Skip to main content

Full text of "Money-making for ladies"

See other formats 


i^yigbi 


LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS. 


Wptf.  ..\Otoj9ri#t  $ » 

Shelf.i.Q'A... 

UNITEB  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


MONEY-MAKING 


FOR 


LADIES 


BY 

ELLA    RODMAN    CHURCH 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN"  SQUARE 

1882 


*>*■■ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 

All  rights  reserved. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"I  wish  I  knew  how  to  make  some 
money  !"  says  Ysolte  of  the  white  hands, 
and  she  sighs  with  a  feeling  of  utter  in- 
capacity as  she  says  it. 

She  has  possibly  painted  some  marine 
views  on  large,  white  clam  -  shells,  and 
offered  them  to  a  shopkeeper  to  be  dis- 
posed of  on  commission,  under  cover  of 
a  thick  veil,  and  with  a  guilty  manner 
that  half  roused  the  man's  suspicions  as 
to  whether,  like  the  wares  of  the  brush- 
maker  who  undersold  his  neighbor,  they 
had  not  been  stolen  ready-made. 

Ysolte  sympathizes  with  the  crumpet- 
woman    who,  when    crying   her   wares, 


INTRODUCTION. 


hoped  to  goodness  no  one  heard  her; 
but  the  public  generally  do  not  seem  to 
appreciate  works  of  art  on  clam-shell 
backgrounds — at  least,  that  portion  of 
the  public  who  frequent  Mr0  Jones's 
stationery  shop ;  and  the  Decorative  Art 
Society  is  equally  unenlightened,  having 
declined  them  with  a  kind  note  advising 
the  artist  to  study  Art ! 

What,  then,  shall  Ysolte  do?  Her 
case  is  undoubtedly  hard — she  is  totally 
destitute  of  a  new  silk  dress,  the  means 
to  purchase  Christmas  presents,  and  va- 
rious other  comforts  and  belongings  of 
civilized  life ;  but  hope  may,  perhaps,  be 
found  for  her,  and  for  others  of  that  nu- 
merous class  who,  while  not  obliged  to 
enter  the  ranks  of  recognized  working- 
women,  strongly  feel  the  need  of  increas- 
ing a  limited  income. 


I 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

"  People  want  things  to  do,"  said  some 
one  lately,  "  and  yet  there  are  a  hundred 
practicable  things  undone  to-day,  for  want 
of  some  one  to  do  them." 

It  seems  only  necessary  to  bring  the 
two  together;  and  some  of  the  sugges- 
tions offered  in  this  little  volume  may 
be  found  useful  by  those  who  are  not 
satisfied  with  being  poor  and  not  fitted 
for  hard  work. 


CONTENTS. 


Chaptee  I. 

THE    BOARDING-HOUSE    QUESTION. 

Competition.  —  Improved  Methods.  —  A  Lady's  Re- 
source. —  Requisites  for  Success.  —  Short  -  sight- 
edness  of  Landladies. — An  Inviting  Table.  —  A 
Refined  Home.  —  Boarding-houses  for  Working- 
men Page  13 

Chapter  II. 

THE    HOUSE-KEEPER'S    OPPORTUNITIES. 

Putting  up  Preserves  for  Sale. — Sources  for  Disposing 
of  them. — Quality  and  Economy. — Popular  Kinds. 
— Care  in  Small  Things.  —  Best  Methods  of  Pre- 
serving.— Low-priced  Goods. — Room  Higher  Up. — 
Showy  and  Economical  Jars.  —  Brandied.  Fruit. — 
Jellies. — Marmalades. — A  Lady's  Success 28 

Chapter  III. 

THE    HOUSE-KEEPER'S    OPPORTUNITIES  (Continued). 

Demand  and  Supply. — "With  brains,  sir!" — The  Pies 
of  Boyhood. — "  Money  in  it." — Advantages  of  Home- 


&  CONTENTS. 

made  Pies.  —  A  Waiting  Market.  —  "Apple  Pye." 
— Good  Bread. — The  Country  Baker. — A  New  De- 
parture.— Modest  Beginnings. — Cheap  Restaurants. 
— An  Unsupplied  Want. — A  Bright  Idea. — The  La- 
dies' Lunch -room. — Division  of  Labor. — Coffee  at 
the  Sea-shore. — A  Money-making  Scheme. — Confec- 
tionery for  Watering-places Page  44 

Chapter  IV. 

WHAT    MAY    BE    DONE    WITH    THE    NEEDLE. 

Use  and  Abuse  of  the  Needle. — Ladies1  Depositories. 
— A  Museum  of  Fancy-work. — Judgment  and  In- 
vention.— Society  of  Decorative  Art. — Quaint  Pro- 
ductions.— Profitable  but  Unattractive  Work. — In- 
dian Bead- work. — An  Old  Woman's  Emery-bags.— 
A  Monopoly  Desirable. — Small  Inventions. — Knit- 
ting and  Crocheting. — Dress-making  and  Millinery. 
— Convenience  and  Economy. — Travelling  Advan- 
tages.— Pins  vs.  Needles. — Home  Dress-making. — 
An  Easy  Way  of  Learning. — Private  Remunerative 
Work. — A  Lady's  Experiment. — Observation  and 
Ingenuity. — A  Neglected  Art. — An  Establishment 
for  Repairs 60 

.  Chapter  V. 

TEACHING    IN    ITS    VARIOUS    BRANCHES. 

The  Profession  of  Teaching. — "Classes  and  Lessons." 
— Ordinary  Remuneration. — A  Class  in  Literature. 
— A  Few  Suggestions.  —  The  Study  of  Botany. — 
Reading   Aloud.— Ordinary  Failings. — Reading   to 


CONTEXTS.  9 

an  Invalid. — Music  Lessons. — A  Modern  Cecilia. — 
Appreciation. — Instruction  in  Fancy-work. — A  Sew- 
ing-school.— A  Class  in  Mending. — An  Object  to 
Work  for. — Cooking-schools. — Teaching  as  an  Ex- 
change  Page  77 

Chapter  VI. 

LITERATURE    AND    WRITING. 

"Prose  and  Worse." — Undeveloped  Talent. — Mistaken 
Ideas. — Some  Open  Doors. — A  Mercenary  Yiew  of 
the  Subject. — What  to  Write  About. — Eates  of  Re- 
muneration.— Literary  Giants. — Century  Plants. — 
What  an  Author  Needs. — Novel  Writing  a  Trade. 
— Works  of  Fiction. — Profits  of  Periodical  Litera- 
ture.— Elements  of  Success. — Value  of  Advertising. 
— Sensational  Writers. — A  Lady's  Attempt  with  a 
Dime  Novel. — Sunday-school  Books. — A  List  of 
Periodicals. — Writing  by  Proxy. — Advertisements. 
—  Letter  -  writing.  —  Legal  Copying.  —  Book  -  keep- 
ing   90 

Chapter  VII. 

ART      INDUSTRIES. 

Schools  of  Design. — Fundamental  Instruction.— Im- 
possible Achievements. — Practical  Skill  in  Design- 
ing.— Mechanical  Drawing.— Women  as  Architects. 
— Engraving  on  Gold  and  Silver. — The  New  York 
Society  of  Decorative  Art. — Objects  of  the  Society. 
— A  Depot  for  First-class  Work. — Conditions  for 
Exhibitors. — China  Painting. — The  Decoration  of 


10  CONTEXTS. 

Fans.— Hand-screens,  Plaques,  etc.— Door-panels. — 
Illustrations  for  Books.  —  A  Superfluity  of  Gen- 
ius  Page  110 

Chapter  VIII. 

HOUSE-DECORATION. 

Two  English  Ladies.— The  Decorator  of  the  Past.— 
A  New  Field  for  Women  of  Taste  and  Judgment. — 
The  Woman's  Province. — How  to  Begin. — Consci- 
entious Work. — A  "House  Beautiful." —Farther 
Suggestions.— A  Pair  of  Vases 128 

.  Chapter  IX. 

SHOPPING    ON    COMMISSION. AGENCIES. 

Attractions  of  Shopping  on  Commission. — Profits  Re- 
ceived.—  Reasons  for  Decline.  —  Comparative  Ad- 
vantages of  New  York  and  other  Places.— Neces- 
sary Qualifications.— Suggestions  for  a  Circular. — 
Advertisements.  —  Shopping  for  Friends.  —  Book 
Agents. — A  City  Lady's  Enterprise.— Characteris- 
tics of  Agents.— Encouragement  for  Ladies. — Miss 
Gr 's  Experience. —The  Catastrophe. — A  De- 
cided Contrast. — Munificent  Emoluments.  — Other 
Subscription-works.— An  Agent  by  Proxy.— Small 
Wares.— Advantages  of  Knowing  how  to  Work.  137 

Chapter  X. 

GARDENING    FOR    PROFIT. 

Advantages  of  a  Country  Residence. — Value  of  a  Gar- 
den-patch.—What  Has  Been  Done.— Want  of  En- 


CONTEXTS.  1 1 

terprise. — A  Small  Garden  Well  Managed. — What 
a  Woman  Might  Do. — Opportunities  in  Fruit-rais- 
ing.— The  Capabilities  of  Currants. — A  Condensed 
Strawberry  Farm. — How  to  Start  and  Manage  it.— 
Quinces  to  the  Front. — Advantages  and  Drawbacks. 
— Fruit-growing  Generally Page  159 

Chapter  XL 

AMONG    THE    FLOWERS. 

Scarcity  of  Women  Florists. — First  Steps. — Building 
a  Greenhouse.  —  Economical  Plans.  —  Variety  not 
Desirable. — A  Rose  Garden  under  Glass. — Extermi- 
nating Insects.  —  Heliotrope. —  A  Market  for  Cut 
Flowers. — Ferns,  Autumn  Leaves,  Grasses,  etc. — A 
Corner  Ornament 178 

Chapter  XII. 

BEES    AND    POULTRY. 

Recommendations  of  Bee-culture. — Profit  in  Keeping 
Bees. — A  Lady's  Testimony. — Two  Western  Girls. 
— How  to  Prevent  Stinging. — "How  am  I  to  Be- 
gin?"— Swarming  Prevented. — Wintering  Bees. — 
Making  Honey  from  Sugar. — Pink  Honey. — Profits 
from  Kens. — Accommodation  for  Poultry. — Gener- 
al Care. — A  Frenchwoman's  Experience. — Roses  and 
Honeysuckles. — French  Soil. — Horse-flesh  as  Food. 
— Artificial  Hatching. — The  Barn-yard  Fowl. — A 
Paying  Business. — Rules  for  Successful  Poultry- 
raising. — Spring  Chickens. — Pigeons. — Proper  Shel- 
ter.— Dutchies,  or  Common  Runts,  most  Profitable. 


12  CONTENTS. 

— A  Flock  of  Turkeys.— Causes  of  Failure. — Deli- 
cacy of  Young  Turkeys. — Carefulness  in  Feeding. 
— Ducks  and  Geese Page  188 

Chapter  XIII. 

A    FEW    LAST    WORDS. 

The  Value  of  Small  Things. — Suggestions  in  News- 
paper Paragraphs. — A  Novel  Pattern  for  an  Auger. 
— Oyster  and  Snail  Shells.  —  Improved  Milk  and 
Butter. — Profit  in  Tea-packing. — A  Little  Tea  Store. 
■ — Cultivation  of  Mushrooms. — A  Lady's  Invention. 
— A  Need  to  be  Supplied. — Knowing  What  to  Do. 
—Wasted  Energy « 216 


MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 


Chaptee  I. 

THE   BOARDING-HOUSE*  QUESTION. 

Competition.  —  Improved  Methods.  —  A  Lady's  Re- 
source.— Requisites  for  Success. — Short-sightedness 
of  Landladies. — An  Inviting  Table.  —  A  Refined 
Home. — Boarding-houses  for  Working-men. 

Most  of  the  popular  roads  to  money- 
rnaking  are  crowded  with  competitors; 
and  those  who  would  find  what  they 
want  are  obliged  to  turn  into  by-paths 
and  make  their  own  roads  as  they  go. 
Sometimes  the  desired  end  is  accom- 
plished by  doing  a  thing  that  has  long 
been  badly  done  in  a  more  satisfactory 
way;  and  the  occupation  of  taking  board- 
ers will  serve  to  illustrate  this  theory. 


14  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

The  average  lady  thrown  upon  her 
own  resources,  especially  if  she  have 
what  is  known  in  such  cases  as  "  a  roof 
over  her  head,"  is  almost  sure  to  take 
boarders;  and,  with  the  "roof"  secured, 
she  may,  if  fortunate  in  her  inmates,  feel 
tolerably  sure  of  a  comfortable  living. 
But  to  take  boarders  as  a  sole  depend- 
ence for  obtaining  the  necessaries  of  life 
is  as  precarious  and  harassing  an  occupa- 
tion as  can  possibly  be  found ;  especially 
with  the  risk  of  hiring  a  large  house  and 
furnishing  it  for  the  purpose.  The  case 
is  not  so  difficult  with  the  occupant  of 
her  own  house,  who,  having  a  room  or 
rooms  that  can  very  well  be  spared, 
chooses  to  diminish  her  household  ex- 
penses by  adding  to  the  number  of  her 
family.  It  increases  her  cares  also,  but 
money  cannot  be  made  in  any  way  with- 
out effort  of  some  kind ;  and  this  is  one 
that  seems  preferable  to  many  others. 


THE   BOARDING-HOUSE   QUESTION.  15 

To  succeed,  however,  in  keeping  board- 
ers, either  on  a  large  or  a  small  scale,  re- 
quires good  house-keeping  and  a  certain 
talent  for  economy  —  which  does  not 
mean  providing  poor  things,  but  getting 
the  most  for  one's  money.  An  econom- 
ical house-keeper,  who  understands  her 
business,  will  furnish  a  good  table  for  a 
sum  which,  in  the  hands  of  one  who 
thinks  only  of  saving  money,  will  pro- 
duce the  most  unsatisfactory  results. 
The  manner  of  cooking  and  serving  food 
has  quite  as  much  to  do  with  its  attrac- 
tiveness as  the  quality  of  the  purchases ; 
and  badly-cooked  meats  and  vegetables 
can  never  be  made  inviting,  whatever 
their  original  cost  may  have  been. 

There  is  frequently  a  kind  of  airy  un- 
concern about  those  who  take  boarders, 
in  regard  to  all  matters  not  absolutely 
down  in  the  bond,  which  is  highly  exas- 
perating ;  and,  considering  all  things,  the 


16  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

wonder  is  not  that  so  many  fail  in  this 
calling,  but  that  any  succeed.  Were 
it  not  that  there  is  always  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  homeless  people  in  the 
world — people  who  are  homeless  from 
necessity,  and  people  who  are  homeless 
from  choice  —  landladies  who  trouble 
themselves  only  about  bare  necessities 
would  oftener  find  that  "  it  did  not  pay 
to  take  boarders." 

Where,  for  instance,  does  one  engaged 
in  looking  for  board  chance  to  light  upon 
a  room  that  has  anything  of  a  home  look 
about  it  ?  Do  not  the  apartments  shown 
rather  convey  the  idea  that  some  one  has 
just  died  there,  and  everything  been  dis- 
mantled in  consequence?  Not  a  bit  of 
drapery  to  bed  or  windows — not  a  brack- 
et or  a  table-cover — not  a  cushion  or  foot- 
stool. The  four  walls  are  there — gener- 
ally with  an  ugly  paper  on  them ;  the 
regulation  bedstead,  bureau,  and  chairs ; 


THE  BOARDING-HOUSE   QUESTION.  17 

possibly  a  hard  lounge,  but  probably 
none  at  all.  What  possibilities  of  cheer- 
fulness are  there  in  such  a  room,  provided 
the  unfortunate  occupants  have  no  em- 
bellishments of  their  own  with  which  to 
enliven  it? 

"But  we  cannot  afford  to  ornament 
rooms,"  say  the  struggling  landladies; 
"  it  wouldn't  pay ;  we  can  hardly  make 
both  ends  meet  as  it  is." 

This  is  just  where  they  make  a  mis- 
take; because  it  ivoidd  pay.  It  would 
pay  to  drape  the  windows  with  cheap 
but  tasteful  curtains  of  white  muslin  or 
cretonne,  Canton -flannel,  or  low-priced 
worsted  stuff — to  drape  the  mantel  with 
the  same,  and  to  have  a  table-cover  to 
match  or  harmonize.  A  lounge  could  be 
improvised  from  a  packing-box,  furnished 
with  springs  and  a  small  hair-mattress, 
and  covered  to  match  the  draperies.  A 
few  touches  of  this  kind  would  completely 


18  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

transform  an  ugly  room  into  a  noticeably 
pretty  one ;  and  the  small  outlay  required 
would  prove  an  excellent  investment. 

The  proprietor  of  a  small  boarding- 
house  was  lately  advised  by  a  friend, 
temporarily  occupying  a  large  room 
which  the  landlady  was  vainly  trying  to 
dispose  of  permanently,  to  make  a  few 
such  improvements  before  applicants 
came  to  inspect  it,  window-curtains  of 
some  kind  being  particularly  recom- 
mended. 

"  Oh,  I  mean  to  get  them,  if  any  one 
takes  the  room,"  was  the  reply ;  "  but  as 
long  as  there  is  no  money  coming  in,  I 
can't  afford  to  spend  anything  on  an  un- 
certainty." 

Her  friend  endeavored  to  convince  her 
that  an  outlay  of  ten  dollars  on  the  spa- 
cious, bare-looking  room  would  be  re- 
turned tenfold,  but  all  to  no  purpose 
The  bedstead  and  bureau  were  of  wal 


THE    BO  ARDIXG- HOUSE   QUESTION.  19 

nut,  while  the  chairs  and  small  side-table 
were  maple ;  but  "  when  the  room  was 
taken,"  the  landlady  said,  the  furniture 
would  be  properly  matched,  the  other 
walnut  articles  being  then  in  some  other 
part  of  the  house. 

The  room  was  not  taken ;  and,  in  all 
probability,  the  head  of  that  house  will 
never  succeed  in  keej3ing  boarders  or  in 
any  other  occupation. 

A  lady  who  desires  to  increase  her  in- 
come by  receiving,  perhaps,  one  inmate 
into  her  family  will  find  no  difficulty,  if 
she  resides  in  a  city,  in  obtaining  an  un- 
exceptionable lady  or  gentleman  board- 
er, who  is  willing  to  pay  liberally  for 
the  comforts  of  a  refined  home.  There 
are  many  such  persons  who  detest  board- 
ing-houses, and  would  gladly  dispense 
with  a  great  variety  of  viands,  for  the 
sake  of  having  what  is  put  on  the  table 
made  inviting.     Even  so  simple  a  dish 


20  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

as  the  popular  ante-breakfast  course  of 
oatmeal  is  seldom  cooked  so  as  to  be  fit 
to  eat.  Often  brought  to  the  table  half 
raw,  because  so  few  cooks  seem  to  under- 
stand the  immense  amount  of  moderate 
boiling,  or  simmering,  that  it  requires, 
it  quite  deserves  the  name  of  "  chicken- 
feed,"  by  which  it  is  facetiously  desig- 
nated. It  can  be  made,  however,  a  very 
delicate  and  nourishing  dish,  if  served 
with  cream  or  good  rich  milk. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  connection 
to  go  into  the  details  of  breakfast,  din- 
ner, and  tea — a  passing  allusion  to  the 
characteristics  of  a  successful  boarding- 
house  being  all  that  is  required.  The 
assertion  can  be  easily  proved  from  facts 
that  the  people  who  are  fruitlessly  seek- 
ing for  home-like  quarters  are  far  more 
numerous  than  those  who  have  such 
quarters  to  offer.  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  any  lady   who  will  furnish   some- 


THE   BOARDIXG-HOUSE   QUESTION.  21 

thing  more  attractive  than  usual  will 
Lave  no  cause  to  complain  of  want  of 
success. 

The  only  kind  of  boarding  -  house 
which  a  lady  can  conduct  comfortably 
in  person  is  one  that  provides  a  refined 
home  for  those  who  are  willing  to  pay 
for  its  privileges,  and  who  prefer  it  to 
the  care  of  a  home  of  their  own.  Half 
a  dozen  rooms  with  inmates  of  this  class 
— two  or  three,  perhaps,  being  rented 
en  suite — would  bring  a  much  handsomer 
profit,  with  far  less  care,  than  if  the  num- 
ber were  doubled  and  filled  with  impe- 
cunious clerks  and  struggling  young 
married  couples. 

There  should  be  no  threadbare  car- 
pets, nor  shabby  nor  sham  articles  of 
any  kind,  in  this  model  boarding-house 
of  ours;  an  air  of  quiet  elegance  and 
general  well-to-do-ativeness  should  per- 
vade    the     establishment     throughout; 


1>1>  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

there  should  be  an  immaculate  front  en- 
trance, a  stand  of  trailing  and  growing 
plants  in  the  vestibule,  a  handsome  um- 
brella and  hat  stand,  portieres,  if  you 
please,  to  the  parlor  door- ways,  and  an 
inhabited  look  to  the  parlors  themselves; 
for  there  would  be  no  caravan  of  Goths 
and  Vandals,  in  the  shape  of  third  and 
fourth  rate  boarders,  to  pour  through 
the  house  and  destroy  things,  but  well- 
bred  inmates,  who  would  appreciate  their 
advantages  too  highly  to  injure  them. 

It  seems  strange  to  the  careful  ob- 
server that  so  little  provision,  except  in 
the  way  of  exorbitant  charges,  has  been 
made  for  this  class;  and  tastefully- fur- 
nished rooms  and  a  well-appointed  table 
are  too  seldom  offered  to  justify  the 
hasty  conclusion  that  they  do  not  pay. 
We  feel  sure  that  they  idouM  pay — for 
such  rooms  and  such  a  table  would  com- 
mand almost  any  price  within  the  bounds 


THE  BOARDIXG-HOUSE  QUESTION.  23 

of  reason ;  and  the  six  or  eight  people 
grouped  around  the  board,  arranged  as 
if  for  a  small  dinner-party,  with  nothing 
visible  but  the  central  stand  of  flowers 
and  the  ornamental  dessert — while  the 
well- trained  waiter  quietly  carves  the 
meats  at  a  side-table,  and  presents  the 
dishes  to  the  guests — the  lady  of  the 
house  sitting  at  the  head  of  her  table, 
handsomely  dressed,  and  free  from  all 
anxiety,  would  feel  that  a  full  equiva- 
lent was  rendered  them  for  a  very  hand- 
some outlay. 

Humbler  boarding-houses  well-con- 
ducted, and  especially  in  manufacturing 
places,  would  not  fail  to  be  appreciated  ; 
and  clean,  comfortable  rooms,  tastefully 
arranged  (for  the  cheapest  things  may 
be  tasteful),  with  plain,  wholesome  food, 
nicely  cooked,  and  varied  as  much  as 
possible,  could  be  made  to  pay  hand- 
somely.     The  boarders   should   not   be 


24  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

able  to  say,  "  Wednesday  is  always  corn- 
ed-beef- and- cabbage  day ;"  or, "  Friday, 
we  are  sure  to  have  fish — only  this,  and 
nothing  more;"  a  regular  routine  of 
viands  is  inexpressibly  wearisome,  and 
may  easily  be  avoided  by  a  little  good 
management. 

A  lady,  some  years  ago,  found  herself 
reduced,  by  the  death  of  her  husband, 
from  affluence  to  poverty,  and  left  with 
several  small  children  to  be  supported 
by  the  work  of  her  own  unaided  head 
and  hands.  She  would  consider  no  pro- 
posals from  friends  that  she  should  open 
a  fashionable  boarding-house;  but,  se- 
lecting a  plain  good -sized  dwelling  in 
the  right  neighborhood,  she  managed  to 
secure  it,  probably  on  the  strength  of  her 
own  well-known  character,  and  fitted  it 
tip  with  a  view  to  the  especial  class  of 
people  whom  she  expected  to  receive  as 
boarders. 


THE   BOARDIXG-HOUSE   QUESTION.  25 

This  was  the  class  of  mechanics,  and 
single  men  were  not  only  "preferred," 
but  insisted  on;  and  as  soon  as  one  of 
the  inmates  married,  his  place  in  the  es- 
tablishment was  forfeited.  A  dozen  oth- 
ers were  always  ready  to  step  into  it; 

for  Mrs.  D 's  boardiug-house  was  so 

admirably  conducted,  that  waiting  hosts 
of  outside  working-men  turned  longing 
eyes  toward  it.  The  adjoining  house 
was  speedily  added  to  the  first  one,  and 
as  speedily  filled ;  and,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  years,  the  enterprising  landlady 
owned  them  both,  and  was  enabled  to 
educate  her  children  thoroughly,  and 
even  to  lay  up  money  for  their  future 
needs. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  how  did 
this  one  woman  manage  to  succeed  in 
an  enterprise  that  would  seem  so  Httle 
suited  to  a  lady,  and  the  details  of  which, 
she  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  grasp 


26  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

understandingly  ?  Practical  good -sense 
and  quick  powers  of  observation  supplied 
in  Mrs.  D 's  case  the  lack  of  experi- 
ence; and  she  furnished  at  reasonable 
prices  an  abundance  of  plain,  excellent 
fare,  with  rooms  that  could  be  comforta- 
bly lived  in,  instead  of  being  used  only 
as  sleeping-bunks — for  even  busy  work- 
ing -  men  can  appreciate  neatness  and 
harmonious  coloring. 

This  lady  chose  to  preside  in  her  own 
dining-room,  and  even  attended  to  the 
carving,  with  the  aid  of  an  assistant ;  and 
the  respectful  greeting  of  each  man,  as 
he  entered  and  took  his  seat,  was  an  in- 
stinctive recognition  of  the  claims  of  his 
landlady  on  his  deference  and  consider- 
ation. 

An  establishment  of  this  kind  might 
be  conducted,  through  a  trustworthy 
deputy,  without  the  appearance  of  the 
real  head  of  the  house ;  but  Mrs.  D 


THE   BOARDIXG-HOUSE    QUESTION.  27 

was  none  the  less  a  lady  because  she 
preferred  managing  her  business  in  per- 
son, while  her  expenses  were  less,  and 
her  plans  more  thoroughly  carried  out, 
than  if  she  had  hired  a  substitute. 


28  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 


Chapter  II. 

THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES. 

Putting  up  Preserves  for  Sale. — Sources  for  Disposing 
of  them. — Quality  and  Economy. — Popular  Kinds. 
— Care  in  Small  Things.  —  Best  Methods  of  Pre- 
serving.— Low-priced  Goods. — Room  Higher  Up. — 
Showy  and  Economical  Jars. — Brandied  Fruit. — 
Jellies. — Marmalades. — A  Lady's  Success. 

Many  branches  of  industry  that  can 
be  pursued  in  a  quiet  way  suggest  them- 
selves in  connection  with  house-keeping; 
and  the  would-be  money-maker  who  has 
a  house  of  her  own  will  find  it  a  compar- 
atively easy  matter  to  carry  out  her  ob- 
ject. Why  should  not  the  carefully-pre- 
pared delicacies  so  lavishly  displayed  on 
the  table  of  the  ambitious  house-keeper 
for  the  admiration  of  her  friends  also  be 
converted  into  a  source  of  revenue? 

Preserved  and  canned  fruits  are  espe- 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      29 

dally  available ;  "  store  preserves "  are 
generally  insipid,  and  canned  peaches 
from  the  same  source  are  sure  to  require 
more  sugar,  as  well  as  more  cooking,  be- 
fore they  are  fit  for  the  table.  As  sugar 
is  a  formidable  item  of  expense  in  put- 
ting up  fruit,  it  is  natural  for  those  who 
are  trying  to  keep  what  they  have  and 
get  all  they  can,  to  scant  it ;  w7hile  the 
less  cooking  the  fruit  gets,  the  larger  and 
firmer  it  appears.  Preserves  that  are 
free  from  these  defects,  and  yet  manu- 
factured at  nearly  the  same  cost,  can 
scarcely  fail  to  find  a  ready  market  as 
soon  as  their  merits  are  known ;  and  a 
lady  without  much  ready  money  to  risk 
could  easily  try  half  a  dozen  jars,  which 
she  could  use  for  home  consumption,  in 
the  event  of  their  not  being  disposed  of. 
A  wise  preliminary  step  would  be  to 
consult  some  dealer  in  such  articles  as  to 
the  demand  for  preserves,  the  most  pop- 


30  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

ular  kinds,  and  the  profit  to  be  expected. 
City  confectioners  and  dealers  in  foreign 
fruits,  etc.,  have  opportunities  for  dispos- 
ing of  such  delicacies,  and  will,  in  most 
cases,  be  quite  willing  to  undertake  it 
on  a  reasonable  commission.  A  country 
store  might  possibly  do  even  better,  as 
there  would  be  little  danger  of  competi- 
tion ;  and  in  some  neighborhoods,  where 
the  residents  are  able  to  indulge  in  lux- 
uries, the  novelty  would  be  so  great,  as 
well  as  the  relief  to  house-keepers,  that 
such  an  occupation,  if  conducted  with 
skill  and  care,  could  soon  be  made  very 
remunerative. 

In  every  case,  however,  where  it  is 
possible,  the  business  should  be  trans- 
acted between  the  producer  and  the  con- 
sumer, to  avoid  the  payment  of  a  com- 
mission to  any  third  party,  which  makes 
quite  a  serious  difference  in  the  profits. 
Friends  are  sometimes  sufficiently  numer- 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      31 

ous  and  liberal  to  prevent  the  need  of 
seeking  customers  among  outside  parties ; 
and  in  this  way,  without  any  publicity, 
a  lady  will  receive  as  many  orders  for 
preserves  as  she  can  conveniently  at- 
tend to. 

The  question  has  been  asked,  while 
this  book  was  in  progress,  "  Cannot  good 
preserves  be  bought  cheaper  than  they 
can  be  made  V  And  various  instances  , 
were  cited,  and  one  well-known  firm  in 
particular  mentioned,  of  marvellously 
low  prices  and  unexceptionable  pre- 
serves. It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
ladies  are  advised  in  these  pages  to  enter 
into  competition  with  the  large  canning 
and  preserving  establishments  that  do 
their  work  by  machinery,  and  fill  every 
market  with  it  at  very  moderate  prices, 
but  merely  to  produce  superior  home- 
made articles  for  a  home  market. 

There  are  customers  to  be  found  who 


32  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

willingly  pay  a  higher  price  for  appar* 
ently  the  same  article  that  is  offered  else- 
where at  a  considerable  discount;  but, 
when  bought  even  at  the  best  of  the 
large  establishments,  they  cannot  feel  as 
sure  of  pure  materials  and  proper  modes 
of  cooking  as  when  taken  from  a  private 
manufacturer,  whose  success  depends 
upon  these  very  points.  Most  of  the 
preserves,  too,  that  are  publicly  offered 
for  sale  have  a  fine  outward  appearance, 
but  a  most  insipid  taste ;  while  the  pur- 
chaser of  cheap  brandied  fruits  runs  a 
fearful  risk  of  disease,  and  even  death, 
from  the  injurious  effects  of  the  cheap 
spirits  employed  in  their  manufacture. 
Good  brandied  fruits  cannot  be  made 
cheaply,  for  the  reason  that  good  fruits 
and  good  brandy  are  not  to  be  had 
for  next  to  nothing;  and  those  who 
have  the  sense  to  know  this  prefer 
buying  such  wares  at  higher  rates  of 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUXITIES.      33 

a  person  who   will  make  them  consci- 
entiously. 

But  they  can  be  made  understanding- 
ly  as  well ;  and  the  lady  who  is  engaged 
in  preserving  may  have  some  friend 
whose  business  relations  will  enable  him 
to  procure  her  materials  at  wholesale 
rates.  This  lightens  the  expense  in 
some  degree,  though  not  so  much,  with 
good  articles,  as  may  generally  be  sup- 
posed ;  and  the  poet's  well-known  line, 

"Earth  gets  its  price  for  what  earth  gives  us," 

is  quite  applicable  here. 

The  judicious  use  of  ammonia  has 
been  recommended  as  a  perfectly  legiti- 
mate way  of  reducing  the  expense  of 
sugar  in  preserving,  as  this  ingredient  is 
quite  harmless,  and  does  not  affect  the 
appearance  of  the  fruit,  when  properly 
used.  In  the  course  of  boiling,  a  small 
quantity  should  be  stirred  in  and  the 
3 


34  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

effect  carefully  noted.  The  alkali  of  the 
ammonia  combines  with  the  acid  of  the 
fruit,  producing  a  neutral  reaction  which 
permits  the  sugar  to  have  its  full  effect. 
If  too  much  ammonia  finds  its  way  in, 
the  addition  of  a  little  vinegar  will 
remedy  the  excess. 

With   regard  to  fruit,  happy   is   she 
who  can  say,  even  if  it  is  a  travesty, 

"I  know  a  bank  where  the  wild  raspberry  grows;" 

for  the  preserving  capabilities  of  this  in- 
significant-looking fruit  are  infinite,  and 
it  has  the  advantage  over  the  cultivated 
berry  of  belonging  to  any  one  who  will 
take  the  trouble  of  gathering  it.  Rasp- 
berry jam  affords  an  inexhaustible  store 
for  puddings,  tarts,  jelly-cake,  ices,  etc., 
and  one  can  scarcely  make  too  much  of 
it.  Raspberry  jelly  and  raspberry  sirup 
are  also  popular ;  and  the  rich,  beautiful 
color  of  all  these  compounds  is  as  pleas- 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      35 

ing  to  the  eye  as  the  taste  is  to  the 
palate. 

Blackberries,  too,  are  valuable  in  their 
way,  though  somewhat  unpleasantly 
seedy,  and  are  quite  popular  in  the  shape 
of  jam  and  jelly  and  sirup.  Strawberry 
preserves  are  always  welcome;  peaches 
are  taken  for  granted;  the  dark -blue 
plums  are  a  delightful  combination  of 
tart  and  sweet.  But  the  latter  are  sel- 
dom offered  for  sale  in  the  shape  of  pre- 
serves; and  with  the  fullest  of  purses 
one  cannot  easily  buy  quince  marma- 
lade. Guava  marmalade,  which  has  to 
be  brought  from  the  tropics,  is  compara- 
tively common;  but  certain  home  pre- 
serves are  still  waiting  for  some  enter- 
prising woman  to  put  their  separate  ma- 
terials together,  and  create  a  demand  by 
furnishing  a  supply. 

To  manufacture  an  article  a  little  dif- 
ferently, or  to  put  it  up  in  a  peculiarly 


36  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

attractive  form,  is  almost  sure  to  prove 
a  successful  enterprise;  and,  especially 
in  the  matter  of  preserving,  superior 
workmanship  and  original  devices  will 
always  bring  in  satisfactory  returns. 

"  The  French,"  says  a  recent  writer  on 
the  subject,  "make  the  clearest,  best 
preserves,  because  they  spare  no  pains. 
They  first  prepare  their  sirup  or  clari- 
fied sugar;  then,  after  neatly  and  care- 
fully paring  or  dressing  their  fruit,  cook 
a  few  pieces  at  a  time,  or  only  as  many 
as  they  can  oversee,  carefully  lifting  each 
piece  out  of  the  sirup  the  moment  it  is 
done.  To  make  clear,  good  preserves 
requires,  first,  no  economy  of  trouble; 
second,  that  the  fruit  be  perfectly  fresh — 
alive  from  the  tree  or  bush,  or,  as  a  friend 
says, '  tasting  of  the  sun.' " 

Some  persons  talk  of  "  having  good- 
luck  with  preserves ;"  but  the  good-luck 
will  almost  invariably  be  found  to  result 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      S7 

from  care  and  experience.  A  little  orig- 
inality, too,  goes  a  great  way ;  but  exper- 
iments out  of  the  beaten  track  should  be 
made  with  great  caution.  A  little  may 
be  gleaned  here  and  there  from  books, 
as  well  as  from  practical  house-keepers; 
and,  after  carefully  laying  the  founda- 
tions, the  business  might  be  commenced 
on  a  small  scale. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
it  is  one  in  which  there  is  great  compe- 
tition—  the  market  being  fairly  flooded 
with  low-priced  goods  that  are  not  cheap 
because  of  so  inferior  a  quality;  and 
that  only  by  providing  something  better 
than  usual,  at  fairly  reasonable  rates,  can 
any  one  now  entering  the  field  hope  to 
make  the  occupation  of  preserving  at  all 
profitable.  For  those  who  will  do  this 
kind  of  work  there  is  much  encourage- 
ment; and  a  quotation  from  a  volume 
for  business  men  is  quite  in  place  here : 


38  MONEY-MAKING    FOR   LADIES. 

"A  wide  range  of  opportunity  for  fort- 
une is  open  to  men  of  enterprise,  even  in 
the  beaten  tracks  of  commerce,  by  an  im- 
provement in  the  quality  of  common  and 
ordinary  articles  of  export,  and  in  the 
modes  of  shipping  them.  By  a  little 
persevering  examination  you  will  readily 
discover  articles  which,  by  extra  care  in 
sending  out  only  the  best  qualities,  and 
put  up  in  such  a  manner  that  they  will 
retain  their  quality  when  they  arrive, 
will  be  certain  to  bring  back  satisfactory 
returns." 

"There  is  always  room  higher  up," 
even  in  the  preserving  business ;  and  the 
Exchange  for  Woman's  Work,  in  New 
York,  which  disposes  of  the  best  class 
of  such  goods  on  commission,  says  in 
its  report  that  the  market  only  waits 
to  be  supplied— whatever  is  really  good 
is  sold,  and  there  is  a  clamorous  call  for 
more. 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.       39 

In  putting  up  preserves  the  clearest 
and  whitest  jars  should  be  selected,  as 
the  fruit  is  then  displayed  to  the  best 
advantage ;  and,  although  tin  cans  have 
the  advantage  of  keeping  their  contents 
so  perfectly  air-tight  that  fermentation 
is  impossible,  they  are  very  inferior  in 
appearance  to  the  glass  bottles,  and  not 
satisfactory  to  the  purchaser,  who  is  thus 
prevented  from  seeing  the  goods  without 
opening  them.  The  ordinary  glass  can- 
ning jars,  sold  as  quarts  and  pints,  con- 
sume an  inordinate  amount  of  fruit,  if 
put  in  at  all  closely ;  and  the  best  and 
most  ornamental  receptacles  are  the 
French  bottles — also  called  quarts,  but 
not  requiring  so  much  to  fill  them — 
which  can  probably  be  obtained  from 
the  large  wholesale  dealers  in  such 
wares. 

One  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  quart 
jar  is    the    current   price    for    superior 


40  MOXEY-MAKIXG   FOR  LADIES. 

brandied  fruit,  while  ordinary  preserves 
sell  somewhat  lower ;  but  when  any  kind 
of  fruit  is  scarce  and  dear,  the  price  of 
that  particular  kind  of  preserve  must 
advance  in  proportion. 

Jellies  of  almost  every  kind  are  sala- 
ble, and  for  currant  jelly  especially  there 
is  a  constant  demand,  as  it  is  indispensa- 
ble with  game  and  venison.  Nothing, 
perhaps,  affords  a  better  illustration  than 
currant  jelly  of  the  advantages  to  be  de- 
rived from  doing  a  thing  in  the  best 
possible  manner,  and  then  putting  it  up 
in  an  attractive  shape.  Red  and  white 
currants  mixed  make  the  prettiest  col- 
or; and  in  some  cases  it  would  pay  to 
make  the  white  and  red  separately,  and 
let  it  harden  in  alternate  layers  in  the 
receptacles.  This  makes  it  very  orna- 
mental for  the  table,  and  such  moulds 
would  probably  be  in  demand  for  din- 
ner-parties. 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.       41 

Clearness  and  color  are,  of  course, -es- 
sentials in  jelly -making,  and  to  secure 
the  desired  results  every  detail  must  be 
carefully  attended  to.  These  begin  with 
the  picking  of  the  fruit;  and  it  is  ad- 
vised to  "  gather  the  fruit  early,  as  soon 
as  fully  ripe,  since  the  pulp  softens  and 
the  juice  is  less  rich  if  allowed  to  remain 
long  after  ripening.  In  our  climate,  the 
first  week  in  July  is  usually  considered 
the  time  to  make  currant  jelly.  Never 
gather  currants  or  other  soft  or  small 
seed  fruit  immediately  after  rain,  for  pre- 
serving purposes,  as  they  are  greatly  im- 
poverished by  the  moisture  absorbed." 

Marmalades,  and  especially  those 
made  of  quince,  are  also  in  demand ;  by 
hardening  them  in  sheets,  and  then  cut- 
ting in  small  squares,  sprinkled  with 
white  sugar,  they  may  be  put  up  as  dry 
confections,  and  meet  with  a  ready  sale. 
This  class  of  preserves  utilizes  all  the 


42  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

imperfect  fruit,  which  must  otherwise  be 
discarded,  as  spoiling  the  effect  of  the 
large,  handsome  specimens  that  are  in- 
dispensable when  the  fruit  is  to  be  seen 
entire ;  but,  when  all  is  mashed  together, 
all  that  is  necessary  is  to  take  out  any 
marks  of  decay,  as  mutilation  does  not 
show. 

A  lady  living  in  the  country  on,  or 
near,  a  fruit  farm  has  great  advantages, 
in  the  way  of  preserving,  over  her  city 
sisters,  as  the  fruit  can  then  be  gathered 
to  "  taste  of  the  sun,"  besides  costing  lit- 
tle or  nothing.  Transportation  of  goods, 
within  any  reasonable  distance,  is  but  a 
slight  additional  expense,  and  a  matter 
very  easily  managed. 

The  case  of  a  lady  was  lately  quoted 
who,  with  a  superabundance  of  fruit  on 
her  premises  that  could  not  be  disposed 
of,  finally  decided  to  convert  it  into  pre- 
serves, and  seek  a  market  for  it  in  that 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      43 

form.  Her  experiment  has  proved  emi- 
nently successful ;  and,  being  fortunate 
enough  to  find  a  home  sale  for  all  the 
preserves  she  can  make,  she  is  now  in 
the  receipt  of  a  very  handsome  income. 


44  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 


Chapter  III. 

THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES. 

{Continued.) 

Demand  and  Supply. — "With  brains,  sir!1' — The  Pies 
of  Boyhood. — "  Money  in  it." — Advantages  of  Home- 
made Pies.  —  A  Waiting  Market.  —  "Apple  Pye." 
— Good  Bread. — The  Country  Baker. — A  New  De- 
parture.— Modest  Beginnings. — Cheap  Restaurants. 
— An  Unsupplied  Want. — A  Bright  Idea. — The  La- 
dies' Lunch -room. — Division  of  Labor. — Coffee  at 
the  Sea-shore. — A  Money-making  Scheme. — Confec- 
tionery for  Watering-places. 

A  good  house-keeper  will  be  able  to 
make  her  knowledge  remunerative  in 
many  ways;  and  she  will  soon  discover 
that  those  who  are  able  to  supply  a 
daily  recurring  want,  as  in  the  case  of 
well-prepared  food,  have  no  need  to  seek 
far  for  constant  employment.  People 
are  always  wanting  things  to  eat,  and 
eat  they  will,  though  other  wants  may 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      45 

go  unsatisfied;  hence,  those  who  can 
cater  to  this  general  weakness  will  suc- 
ceed where  learning  and  culture  fail. 

Not  that  the  learning  and  culture 
would  be  amiss  even  in  this  very  prac- 
tical calling — for,  if  Biddy's  mistress  had 
Biddy's  muscle,  she  would  do  the  Irish 
girl's  work  far  better  than  the  Irish  girl 
does  it  herself;  "  with  brains,  sir !"  be- 
ing not  only  an  addition,  but  a  manifest 
improvement,  to  any  combination.  A 
good  cook  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  found 
in  an  accomplished  lady  as  in  the  red- 
visaged  denizen  of  the  kitchen ;  and 
many  of  those  reduced  from  wealth  to 
comparative  poverty  have  quietly  turn- 
ed their  culinary  talents  to  practical  ac- 
count. 

Home-made  pies  and  cake,  of  that  ineffa- 
ble character  which  men's  mothers  always 
made  when  they  were  boys,  are  harder  to 
find  than  four-leaved  clovers;   and  the 


46  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

success  of  such  exceptional  viands  is  al- 
most assured.  There  is  even  a  tradition 
that,  some  years  ago,  a  woman  actually 
bought  a  farm  with  the  proceeds  of  pie- 
making;  but  she  sold  her  manufactures 
herself,  and  hired  no  assistants.  It  is 
something  like  those  marvellous  tales  of 
German  farmers  on  diminutive  plots  of 
ground,  who  contrive  to  make  one  acre 
yield  the  products  of  ten — a  feat  which 
is  accomplished  by  being  their  own  farm- 
ers, hired  hands,  and  errand-boys,  and  by 
wasting  nothing. 

Money  can  certainly  be  made,  howev 
er,  by  the  most  retiring  lady  in  manu 
facturing  excellent  home-made  pies  and 
cake  where  there  is  a  market  for  them 
and  this  can  be  found  in  any  city  or 
town  of  much  size.  Country  house 
keepers  would  feel  insulted  by  the  bare 
suggestion  that  they  were  not  able  and 
willing  to  make  their  own  pies  and  cake, 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      47 

although  many  of  them  are  not ;  but 
dwellers  in  cities  have  no  such  sensi- 
tiveness. 

Deft  fingers  with  pastry,  that  can  turn 
out  plump,  juicy  pies  of  apples  in  slices, 
thoroughly  cooked,  and  flavored  with 
cinnamon  and  orange-peel  —  those  of 
pumpkin  deep,  moist,  and  good  in  every 
wray,  and  others  in  their  season — would 
find  no  difficulty,  after  a  little  patient 
waiting,  perhaps,  in  meeting  with  a  ready 
sale  for  them.     People  would  flock  after 

Mrs.  E 's  home-made  pies,  as  they 

would   after   Mrs.  D 's   home-made 

preserves ;  and  the  agreeable  change 
from  strong  butter  in  the  paste,  and  very 
little  of  anything  in  the  inside,  to  crust 
of  flaky  sweetness  and  liberal  "  filling," 
could  not  fail  to  be  appreciated. 

Just  at  first,  perhaps,  the  profit  might 
scarcely  pay  for  the  trouble,  but  a  little 
practice  would  soon  teach  the  beginner 


48  MONEY-MAKING    FOR    LADIES. 

how  to  buy  materials  in  quantities  at  a 
saving,  and  to  use  them  with  discretion. 
It  would  not  be  difficult  in  the  city  to 
find  a  suitable  person  to  carry  the  pies 
around  for  sale;  and  there  are  many 
business  places  where  they  would  be 
warmly  welcomed  at  lunch -time,  espe- 
cially if  made  in  the  form  of  tarts  and 
turnovers.  An  enterprising  lady  could 
do  well  when  her  pies  became  popular; 
and  it  is  rather  surprising  that  no  one 
has  tried  the  experiment  to  any  extent — 
that  is,  no  really  good,  home-made  pies* 
have  been  offered  for  sale  in  this  way; 
and,  because  poor  ones  have  not  been 
particularly  popular,  there  is  no  reason 
for  discouragement  where  good  ones  are 
concerned. 

Both  pies  and  cake  could  probably  be 
introduced  into  the  same  market  where 
preserves  are  welcomed ;  and,  with  the 
help   of  a   competent  assistant,  a   lady 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      49 

could  easily  supply  a  large  daily  de- 
mand. She  would  do  well,  perhaps,  to 
consider  a  recipe,  not  far  from  two  cen- 
turies old,  called 

"APPLE  PYE." 

"  Dear  Nelly,  learn  with  Care  the  Pastry  Art, 
And  mind  the  easy  Precepts  I  impart ; 
Draw  out  your  Dough  elaborately  thin, 
And  cease  not  to  fatigue  your  Rolling  Pin. 
Of  Eggs  and  Butter  see  you  mix  enough, 
For  then  the  Paste  will  swell  into  a  Puff, 
Which  will  in  crumpling  Sounds  your  Praise  report, 
And  eat,  as  Housewives  speak,  exceeding  short.1' 

Did  any  one  ever  visit  a  country  vil- 
lage where  good  bread  could  be  bought, 
or  where  even  tolerable  bread  was  offered 
for  sale  %  The  great  want  of  such  a  place 
is  a  decent  bakery,  where  bread  worth 
the  eating,  biscuits  of  undoubted  charac- 
ter, and  good  plain  cake  could  be  bought. 
Pies  of  a  like  nature  might  be  added 
here ;  and,  with  everything  good  of  its 
kind,  and  sufficiently  reasonable  in  price, 
4 


50  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

the  projector  of  such  an  unusual  enter- 
prise could  make  it  an  abundantly  pay- 
ing one. 

Baker's  bread,  in  the  country,  is  almost 
invariably  dingy  of  hue  and  tough  of 
texture ;  and  as  to  the  cakes,  or  "  buns," 
with  their  speckled  tops,  one  feels  like 
asking  which  are  currants  and  which  are 
flies,  even  at  the  risk  of  the  traditionary 
answer,  "  You  pays  your  penny,  and  you 
takes  your  choice."  The  pies  which  ac- 
company such  bread  and  cake  are  not 
to  be  thought  of,  except  in  the  shape  of 
dark  mysteries. 

In  view  of  this  state  of  things,  a  depot, 
however  unpretending,  where  eatable 
bread  could  be  had  for  the  buying,  with 
the  addition  of  thoroughly  good  pies 
and  cake,  would  surely  flourish ;  and  it 
might  begin  on  a  very  small  scale  indeed. 
A  lady's  kitchen  would  furnish  all  nec- 
essary weapons  of  war,  and  the  services 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      51 

of  a  person  to  perforin  the  heaviest  labor 
could  be  secured  by  the  day,  week,  or 
month.  A  respectable  woman  could, 
doubtless,  be  found  to  "  tend  store  "  for 
a  reasonable  consideration;  and,  when 
all  the  wheels  of  the  machinery  were 
fairly  in  running  order,  the  proprietor 
would  find  herself  in  possession  of  a 
substantial  business,  that  must,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  prove  a  lasting  one. 

As  the  want  is  one  constantly  com- 
plained of  in  country  villages — each  fam- 
ily being  obliged  to  do  its  own  baking, 
no  matter  how  inconvenient  or  unwel- 
come the  task,  with  the  worse  alterna- 
tive of  getting  their  daily  supplies  from 
the  baker's  wagon — a  well-managed  en- 
terprise of  this  kind  seems  to  have  in  it 
all  the  elements  of  success.  The  little 
shop  might  begin  in  a  portion  of  some 
one  else's  store,  or  even  in  a  room  of  the 
dwelling  where   the  highly -respectable 


52  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

"  lady  attendant"  abides;  and  a  moderate 
trade  in  confectionery  might  grow  up  by 
degrees  under  the  wing,  as  it  were,  of  the 
staff  of  life.  Ice-cream,  in  warm  weath- 
er, would  also  prove  remunerative ;  and 
there  is  room,  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  for  an  infinity  of 
these  delightful  little  bakeries,  in  which 
ladies  can  not  only  make  money,  but  find 
themselves  in  the  position  of  public  ben- 
efactresses. 

This  is  the  day  of  cheap  restaurants, 
where  pavement -boys,  venders  of  news- 
papers, bootblacks,  and  the  like  can  get 
a  comfortable  meal  for  a  few  cents ;  and 
in  far,  down-town  localities,  where  busi- 
ness men  congregate,  a  dime  or  two  will 
procure  good  meat,  bread,  milk,  tea  or 
coffee,  and  something  quite  eatable  in 
the  way  of  dessert. 

But  for  ladies  there  are  no  such  es- 


THE   HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      53 

tablishnients ;  the  down-town  places  are 
too  far  off,  and  within  a  reasonable  shop- 
ping radius  there  are  only  the  confection- 
ers, with  high  prices  and  unsatisfactory 
viands.  The  restaurants  established  in 
immense  dry  goods  emporiums  in  neigh- 
boring cities  are  largely  patronized  for 
convenience'  sake,  and  must  bring  large 
revenues  to  their  proprietors ;  but  a  lady 
who  lately  entered  one  of  these  apart- 
ments, for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a 
much-needed  lunch,  gives  anything  but 
a  favorable  report  of  her  experience. 
The  crowd  had  in  a  measure  dispersed, 
and  the  new-comer  could  take  her  choice 
of  several  disorderly-looking  tables,  with 
soiled  cloths  and  the  crumbs  of  the  last 
feast.  A  pert-looking  girl  came  very  near 
to  get  some  ice-cream  for  another  customer, 
but  vouchsafed  no  reply  to  the  lady's  re- 
quest for  a  bill  of  fare;  and  a  colored  wait- 
er persistently  disregarded  her  signals. 


54  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

After  five  or  ten  minutes  of  fruitless 
waiting,  the  lady,  whose  time  was  pre- 
cious, rose  up  in  wrath ;  and,  meeting  a 
person  who  was  probably  known  as  the 
"  lady  superintendent,"  she  informed  her 
that  she  was  leaving  the  place  because 
she  could  get  no  attention.  Everything 
in  the  way  of  attention  was  immediately 
promised ;  but  the  customer  did  not  find 
the  soiled  table-cloths  appetizing,  and 
wended  her  way  on  her  various  missions 
without  any  lunch  at  all. 

As  she  walked  on,  however,  decidedly 
faint  and  exhausted,  she  pictured  to  her- 
self a  model  lunch-room,  intended  solely 
for  ladies — the  strong  point  to  consist  of 
excellent  coffee,  supplemented  by  home- 
made bread,  both  white  and  brown, 
and  the  napery  and  appointments  to 
be  immaculate.  What  a  chance,  she 
thought,  for  some  enterprising  woman 
to  make  a  fortune !     And  why,  in  the 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S   OPPORTUNITIES.      55 

name  of  common -sense,  did  not  such  a 
woman  open  just  such  a  restaurant  as 
close  as  possible  to  some  great  shop- 
ping centre  ? 

By  getting  her  materials  in  large 
quantities,  and  paying  ready  money  for 
them,  she  would  find  it  practicable  to 
charge  moderate  prices,  and  yet  realize 
a  handsome  profit.  The  mere  fact,  for 
instance,  of  charging  five  cents  a  cup 
for  coffee,  instead  of  ten,  and  yet  furnish- 
ing an  unexceptionable  beverage,  would 
bring  her  a  constant  run  of  custom ;  and 
the  bill  of  fare  could  be  extended  by 
degrees,  as  there  seemed  occasion  for 
it.  A  small  sum  of  money  would  go  a 
great  way  in  starting  such  an  estab- 
lishment, which,  at  first,  could  be  con- 
ducted in  one  room,  with  a  curtain 
screen  to  conceal  the  little  stove,  with 
its  coffee  apparatus  —  the  bread  being 
made  at  home ;  and  a  respectable,  pleas- 


56  MONEY-MAKING   FOR    LADIES. 

ant-spoken  woman  could  be  engaged  as 
an  attendant. 

This  would  be  an  experiment  on  a 
moderate  scale,  and  the  returns  would 
come  in  daily.  The  bill  of  fare  could  be 
extended  as  circumstances  required  ;  and, 
all  things  considered,  the  field  seems  a 
particularly  promising  one. 

"  But,"  remonstrates  Ysolte,  helplessly, 
"  what  has  this  to  do  with  me  ?  I  am 
not  a  house-keeper,  and  cannot  set  up  a 
restaurant." 

Then  she  can  go  into  partnership  with 
some  friend  who  is  a  house-keeper;  or, 
if  she  has  no  available  friend,  she  can 
probably  find,  by  careful  search,  some 
worthy  woman  who  will  be  only  too 
glad  to  do  her  cooking  for  a  fair  con- 
sideration ;  while  the  other  worthy  wom- 
an who  presides  over  the  lunch -room 
can  easily  mauage  the  coffee.  The  few 
articles  needed  at  first  can  be  collected 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      57 

very  cheaply;  and,  if  situated  in  the 
right  neighborhood,  there  will  be  no 
lack  of  custom. 


There  is  a  want  yet  to  be  supplied  at 
sea-shore  places  of  resort,  and  a  want, 
too,  that,  strangely  enough,  seems  to 
have  entirely  escaped  the  notice  of  those 
who  prey  upon  the  seekers  after  health 
and  pleasure.  This  is  the  cup  of  fra- 
grant coffee  that  always  follows  the 
Turkish  bath,  but  which  has  as  yet 
had  no  connection  with  a  plunge  into 
the  ocean. 

An  excellent  opportunity  for  money- 
making  here  offers  itself  to  any  one  who 
is  capable  of  carrying  out  such  an  enter- 
prise. Few  bathers  would  not  be  will- 
ing to  pay  ten  cents  for  the  refreshment 
of  an  excellent  cup  of  coffee  at  the  very 
time  when  it  is  most  wanted ;  and  its 
reviving  effects  are  particularly  notice- 


58  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

able  after  the  fatigues  of  bathing  and 
getting  dressed  again. 

The  coffee  could  be  served  in  some 
place  close  at  hand,  or  it  might  be  car- 
ried around  on  waiters;  but  it  should 
invariably  be  hot  and  strong,  and  able 
to  bear  the  closest  criticism.  A  woman 
to  make  the  coffee,  with  an  assistant  to 
help  her  pour  it  out,  and  boys  or  girls 
to  carry  it  around,  would  constitute  the 
needed  corps;  while  the  proprietor  might 
disport  herself  among  the  bathers,  and 
even  partake  of  a  cup  of  her  own  coffee, 
if  she  felt  so  inclined. 

Confectionery  is  always  a  popular  ar- 
ticle of  merchandize  at  watering-places ; 
and  anything  a  little  out  of  the  common 
way,  if  good  as  well,  would  be  received 
with  favor.  Whether  bought  or  home- 
made,  if  nicely  put  up  in  boxes  of  a  con- 
venient size  and  sold  at   a  reasonable 


THE  HOUSE-KEEPER'S  OPPORTUNITIES.      59 

price,  the  demand  for  it  would  be  quite 
extensive. 

An  arrangement  might  be  made  with 
the  hotel-keeper,  or  with  some  one  liv- 
ing in  the  place,  to  undertake  the  sale ; 
but  ordinary  ingenuity  will  furnish  meth- 
ods for  accomplishing  this  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  case. 


60  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

Chapter  IV. 

WHAT   MAY  BE  DONE  WITH  THE   NEEDLE. 

Use  and  Abuse  of  the  Needle. — Ladies'  Depositories. 
— A  Museum  of  Fancy-work. — Judgment  and  In- 
vention.— Society  of  Decorative  Art. — Quaint  Pro- 
ductions.— Profitable  but  Unattractive  Work. — In- 
dian Bead-work. — An  Old  Woman's  Emery-bags.— 
A  Monopoly  Desirable. — Small  Inventions. — Knit- 
ting and  Crocheting. — Dress-making  and  Millinery. 
— Convenience  and  Economy. — Travelling  Advan- 
tages.— Pins  vs.  Needles. — Home  Dress-making. — 
An  Easy  Way  of  Learning. — Private  Remunerative 
Work. — A  Lady's  Experiment. — Observation  and 
Ingenuity. — A  Neglected  Art. — An  Establishment 
for  Repairs. 

A  deft  use  of  the  needle  is  a  par- 
ticularly lady-like  accomplishment;  but 
plain  sewing  is  hard  and  wearing  work, 
and,  since  the  introduction  of  sewing- 
machines,  it  is,  when  "  done  by  hand," 
anything  but  remunerative.  As  an  es- 
sentially feminine  implement,  the  needle 


THE   XEEDLE.  61 

had  always  been  a  great  favorite  with 
poets  and  writers,  until  the  "  Song  of 
the  Shirt "  opened  their  eyes  to  the  evils 
caused  by  an  excessive  use  of  it;  and 
scarcely  a  more  affecting  picture  can  be 
drawn  than  that  of  a  poor,  half-starved 
needle- woman  bending  over  her  daily 
toil. 

In  all  the  large  cities  there  are  empo- 
riums, generally  known  as  Ladies'  De- 
positories, where  ladies  (fo'r  whose  ben- 
efit they  are  intended)  can  deposit  arti- 
cles of  needle- work  made  by  them  for 
sale,  receiving  the  proceeds  when  sold, 
after  the  deduction  of  the  usual  ten  per 
cent,  commission ;  while  ladies  who  want 
work  done  deposit  it  there  to  be  given 
out  to  the  proper  persons.  All  kinds 
of  plain  sewing  and  embroidery  are  done 
through  these  establishments ;  but  only 
first-class  work  is  accepted,  as  the  prices 
paid  are  very  liberal. 


62  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

These  institutions  have  proved  per- 
fect boons  to  many  poor,  proud  ones, 
who  could  not  bring  themselves  openly 
to  join  the  ranks  of  sewing-women,  and 
yet  whose  only  power  lay  in  a  skilful 
use  of  the  needle.  A  perfect  museum 
of  fancy-work,  beautifully  executed,  and 
often  showing  taste  and  originality  in 
the  combinations,  is  displayed  in  win- 
dows and  cases;  and  it  is  saddening  to 
see  such  an  apparently  inexhaustible 
supply  of  pin -cushions,  and  tidies,  and 
babies'  socks,  and  afghans,  and  every 
fanciful  allurement  that  can  be  thought 
of  to  open  the  purses  of  wealthy  visi- 
tors, because  there  are  so  few  purchasers 
in  proportion  to  the  supply. 

The  best  season  for  the  sale  of  such 
articles  is  during  the  month  before  the 
Christmas  holidays,  when  an  inventive 
fancy  and  dexterous  fingers  may  be  turn- 
ed to  good  account.     The  surest  element 


THE  NEEDLE.  63 

of  success  is  to  produce  something  that 
is  original,  and  at  the  same  time  in  de- 
mand; and  inexpensive  trifles  will  sell 
much  more  readily  than  elaborate  pieces 
of  work. 

The  Society  of  Decorative  Art  is  very 
much  the  same  thing  on  a  higher  scale, 
hand -painting  and  artistic  embroidery 
being  the  only  accomplishments  that 
find  admission  there.  Very  beautiful 
work  is  displayed,  and  high  prices  are 
paid  to  those  who  come  up  to  the  stand- 
ard required;  but,  to  do  this,  careful 
study  is  necessary,  and  considerable  out- 
lay both  of  time  and  money. 

Ordinarily,  the  sale  of  fancy-work  de- 
pends upon  the  place  and  the  season  as 
much  as  upon  the  workmanship.  In 
some  quaint,  sea-shore  places  shell-work, 
which  in  cities  is  thought  too  antiquated 
to  be  worthy  of  notice,  is  largely  in  de- 
mand ;  and  in  one  sandy  retreat,  not  nn- 


64  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

known  to  fame,  a  maiden  lady  partly 
supports  herself  by  her  "  shell  pieces." 
These  are  composed  of  small  shells  and 
fragments  of  coral,  dotted  over  a  mass 
of  sea-weed  that  issues  from  a  diminu- 
tive basket,  or,  rather,  from  the  flat  half 
of  it — all  of  which  is  glued  on  a  founda- 
tion of  card-board,  ready  for  the  frame, 
which  is  added  by  the  purchaser. 

Numbers  of  these  works  of  art  are 
carried  away  as  mementos  of  the  place ; 
and  some  of  them  are  really  pretty.  The 
handsomest  ones,  in  which  a  flat  pearl 
shell  of  lovely,  changeful  sheen  is  substi- 
tuted for  the  basket,  are  sold  for  several 
dollars  apiece.  A  peep,  however,  into 
the  work-room,  back  of  the  shop,  where 
the  shell- artist  stains  her  hands  with 
powerful  acids  that  are  used  to  bring 
out  the  beauty  of  the  shells,  is  not  cal- 
culated to  attract  fastidious  ladies  to 
this  occupation. 


THE   XEEDLE.  65 

Indian  bead-work  has  its  attractions 
when  bought  of  Indians,  and  some  ladies 
manufacture  it  on  a  very  elaborate  scale 
for  fancy  fairs;  but  what  could  a  city 
shopkeeper  do  with  it  %  Who  would 
care  for  the  crosses  and  trinkets  made 
of  table-rock  away  from  Niagara  ? 

Some  years  ago  a  poor  old  woman, 
whose  eyesight  was  exceptionally  good, 
helped  to  support  herself  and  a  family 
of  grandchildren  by  making  emery-bags. 
The  strawberries,  both  white  and  red, 
with  their  clearly  -  defined  green  hulls, 
were  wonderfully  natural -looking,  some 
being  made  of  flannel,  and  some  of  vel- 
vet, and  varying  in  price,  according  to 
the  material ;  and  a  ready  sale  was  found 
for  these  useful  little  articles  amons;  the 
ladies  who  took  an  interest  in  the  aged 
needle- woman.  The  materials,  fortunate- 
ly, cost  her  nothing — bits  of  flannel,  vel- 
vet, and  silk  being  furnished  by  the  la- 
5 


66  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

dies  themselves;  while  the  emery,  which 
was  of  the  very  best  quality,  was  the 
gift  of  a  dealer  in  such  goods. 

Almost  any  one  small  article  for 
which  there  is  a  demand,  and  especially 
one  of  which  the  manufacturer,  as  in- 
ventor also,  has  the  monopoly,  will  bring 
in  better  returns  than  a  variety  of  arti- 
cles of  less  decided  popularity.  One 
reason  for  this  can  probably  be  found 
in  the  fact  that,  when  the  powers  are 
concentrated  on  the  doing  of  one  thing 
only,  that  thing  is  sure  to  be  done  ex- 
ceptionally well. 

Any  invention  that  pleases  children 
is  an  open  sesame  to  their  parents' 
purses;  and  a  quick-witted  young  lady 
has  netted  herself  into  quite  a  profitable 
little  business  by  making  hammocks  for 
dolls.  These  little  hammocks  are  made 
both  of  silk  and  cotton,  of  prettily  con- 
trasting colors,  and  finished  with  dainty 


THE   NEEDLE.  67 

bows  of  ribbon  where  they  are  sus- 
pended. To  have  one's  beloved  Flor- 
ence Arabella  gently  swaying  to  and  fro 
(a  miniature  edition  of  Sister  Lil,  who, 
with  aesthetic  attire  and  the  last  novel, 
is  doing  the  same  thing  in  a  shaded  cor- 
ner of  the  veranda)  in  a  hammock  of  her 
own  is  infinitely  delicious  to  the  juvenile 
mind  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  such 
an  article,  as  the  advertisers  say,  "  sells 
at  sight." 

Some  ladies  knit  and  crochet  with 
such  dexterity  that  their  work  is  much 
in  demand  ;  and,  although  the  stores  pay 
very  poorly  for  this  kind  of  labor,  pri- 
vate orders  are  often  received  through 
friends  that  make  it  worth  the  doing. 
One  or  two  hundred  dollars  a  year  can 
be  very  pleasantly  earned  by  working 
wTith  soft,  bright  wools,  and  making  pret- 
ty articles  in  one's  leisure  hours.  There 
is,  however,  no  regular  demand  for  this 


68  MONEY-MAKING  FOK   LADIES. 

kind  of  manufactures,  and  such  orders 
are  usually  the  result  of  good  fortune 
and  influence — fancy-work  of  any  kind 
being  a  very  poor  staff  to  lean  upon. 

Dress-making  and  millinery,  which,  if 
such  a  term  is  allowable,  may  be  called 
fancy  plain  sewing,  are  particularly  sat- 
isfactory in  their  results. 

There  is  a  very  general  belief  that 
dress-makers  and  milliners  are  born,  in- 
stead of  being  made;  and  this  idea  is 
verified  by  the  ease  with  which  some 
persons,  without  the  least  instruction, 
will  take  up  the  making  of  dresses  or 
bonnets,  and  turn  out  work  that  would 
be  creditable  to  those  regularly  ap- 
prenticed to  the  trade.  When  only 
put  to  home  uses  the  gift  is  a  most 
convenient  one,  and  a  saving  both  of 
trouble  and  money;  for  good  dress- 
makers, at  reasonable  prices,  are  as  rare 


THE   NEEDLE.  69 

as  good  servants,  and  good  milliners 
equally  so. 

If  there  is  truth  in  the  homely  adage 
that  a  penny  saved  is  a  penny  gained, 
economy  may  be  considered  in  the  light 
of  money-making;  and  that  there  is  a 
great  saving  in  the  making  of  one's  own 
dresses  and  bonnets  is  an  undisputed 
fact.  Less  material  is  required ;  things 
can  be  made  to  "  do,"  in  the  way  of  lin- 
ings and  trimmings,  that  would  be  most 
contemptuously  regarded  by  a  profes- 
sional lady,  and  a  delightful  feeling  of 
independence  is  attained  by  having  one's 
dress-maker  and  milliner  always  at  hand 
for  repairs  and  alterations. 

The  convenience  of  this  in  travelling, 
or  while  on  a  visit,  can  scarcely  be  exag- 
gerated ;  and,  in  packing  things  into  a 
small  compass,  the  lady  who  does  her 
own  millinery  can  indulge  in  three  or 
four  hats,  where  her  more  helpless  sister 


70  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

could  allow  herself  but  one.  To  effect 
this,  the  hats  are  entirely  stripped  of 
trimming — the  feathers,  flowers,  ribbons, 
etc.,  carefully  laid  in  the  tray  or  box  pre- 
pared for  them — while  the  denuded  skel- 
etons are  placed  one  within  another,  as 
at  the  hatters,  and  stowed  with  the  small- 
est amount  of  attention  or  respect  just 
where  they  will  go  conveniently. 

It  is  an  assured  fact  that  one  phase 
of  the  unpacking  consists  in  reclothing 
these  naked  hats — a  thing  that  is  easily 
done  with  the  help  of  a  few  pins,  a  twist 
or  two,  and  a  stitch  here  and  there. 
Amateur  milliners  advocate  the  use  of 
pins  rather  than  of  needles ;  but  profes- 
sionals may  not  endorse  this  theory. 

The  dress -maker,  too,  can  divest  her 
handiwork  of  any  trimming  or  draping 
that  might  be  injured  by  close  packing, 
secure  in  the  power  of  being  able  to  re- 
store each  flounce  and  fold  to  its  origi- 


THE   NEEDLE.  71 

nal  place,  as  soon  as  the  time  has  come 
for  the  garment  to  emerge  from  its  chrys- 
alis state. 

In  a  family  of  several  daughters,  even 
where  there  is  a  reasonable  supply  of 
money,  an  aptness  for  dress-making  and 
millinery  is  a  gift  to  be  cultivated.  One 
paterfamilias  offered  his  eldest  daugh- 
ter a  new  dress  for  every  dress  of  similar 
value  that  she  made  satisfactorily  for  her- 
self, or  for  any  other  member  of  the  fami- 
ly; and  the  young  lady  applied  herself 
so  diligently  to  the  art,  that  her  ward- 
robe was  the  wonder  and  admiration  of 
all  her  friends. 

When  it  is  a  possible  thing  for  a  lady 
to  acquire  this  useful  knowledge,  she 
should  not  hesitate  to  do  so;  and  some 
good  dress-makers  and  milliners  are  now 
willing  to  receive  pupils  in  place  of  ap- 
prentices. If  regular  instruction  is  not 
available,  a  great  deal  may  be  learned 


72  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

by  taking  an  old  dress  or  bonnet  to 
pieces,  to  see  how  it  is  put  together ;  and 
this,  with  the  aid  of  the  excellent  pat- 
terns that  are  sold  everywhere,  would 
enable  almost  any  one  to  achieve  a  fair 
degree  of  success. 

Any  lady  with  some  degree  of  taste  in 
this  branch  of  needle-work  will  be  able 
to  make  it  profitable  in  a  moderate  way 
among  her  friends,  who  will  be  glad 
enough  to  secure  work  worthy,  perhaps, 
of  a  first-class  modiste  at  not  more  than 
half  her  charges.  The  workers,  on  the 
other  hand,  feel  that  they  are  well  remu- 
nerated, and  are  thankful  to  obtain  new 
bonnets  and  dresses  for  themselves  by 
fashioning  those  of  their  friends. 

The  millinery  business  is  said  to  be 
extremely  profitable;  and  two  ladies, 
who  were  desirous  of  obtaining  money 
for  a  certain  purpose,  were  once  engaged 
in  it  for  a  year  in  a  somewhat  novel  way. 


THE   XEEDLE.  73 

One  partner  had  all  the  artistic  taste, 
and  made  the  bonnets,  which  were  charm- 
ing; the  other  was  of  a  practical,  busi- 
ness turn,  and  attended  to  the  purchases 
and  the  account-keeping.  A  room  was 
hired  in  a  desirable  locality,  and  a  trust- 
worthy saleswoman  placed  in  it;  while 
the  real  proprietors  were  never  supposed 
to  be  connected  with  the  establishment 
at  all. 

These  enterprising  ladies  realized  a 
handsome  profit,  and  retired  at  the  end 
of  a  year  with  their  purpose  fully  accom- 
plished, 

A  milliner  in  a  country  village  is  sure 
to  become  well-to-do,  at  least;  and  one 
with  taste  and  a  knowledge  of  busi- 
ness might  do  much  better  than  this. 
Quick  powers  of  observation  are  neces- 
sary to  success,  as  well  as  the  ability  to 
originate  styles,  and  to  combine  and 
arrange  trimmings  effectively.     A  man- 


74  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

milliner  complained  that  he  walked  out 
on  the  most  public  thoroughfare  for  the 
express  purpose  of  studying  the  different 
styles,  but  that  none  of  the  women  whom 
he  employed  as  assistants  ever  did  so. 

Some  persons  can  almost  in  a  single 
glance  make  a  novelty  their  own ;  and 
these  are  born  milliners  and  dress-makers. 
Others  can  gaze  for  a  few  moments  in  a 
window,  and  then  come  home  and  cut 
their  own  patterns,  giving  just  the  right 
look  to  every  part.  Such  women  need 
never  be  in  want — they  carry  a  fortune 
in  their  quick  eyes  and  nimble  fingers. 

That  branch  of  needle-work  known  as 
mending  is  often  sadly  neglected,  and 
the  exquisitely  regular,  back-and-forth 
darning  of  a  past  generation  usually  ex- 
cites comments  on  the  "  waste "  of  the 
time  bestowed  upon  it.  Some  things  are 
worth  mending  and  others  are  not;  but, 


THE   XEEDLE.  75 

as  a  general  rule,  if  a  thing  is  worth 
mending  at  all,  it  is  worth  mending  well. 

To  understand  mending  thoroughly  is 
a  great  aid  to  economy ;  and  the  patch 
put  on  by  a  thread,  and  sewed  with  al- 
most invisible  stitches,  often  saves  a  val- 
uable garment,  without  materially  affect- 
ing its  appearance.  To  regard  mending, 
however,  in  the  light  of  a  money-making 
industry  is  so  much  of  a  novelty,  that 
the  following  paragraph  from  a  daily 
paper  will  be  read  with  interest : 

"It  is  somewrhat  singular  that,  among 
the  many  devices  resorted  to  by  women 
for  the  purpose  of  earning  a  livelihood, 
it  has  not  yet  dawned  upon  the  con- 
sciousness of  some  enterprising  females 
that  general  repair  establishments  could 
be  made  grand  successes  in  large  cities. 
Just  where  the  thousands  of  young  men 
who  are  away  from  their  mothers,  sisters, 
or  aunts  get  their  mending  done  is  a 


76  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

mystery.  That  it  is  done  by  somebody, 
there  is  no  doubt;  but,  if  there  were 
places  where  a  shirt,  a  pair  of  stockings, 
drawers,  pantaloons,  or  any  other  gar- 
ment could  be  sent  to  be  mended,  with 
the  assurance  that  it  would  be  neatly 
and  cheaply  done,  there  would  be  no 
lack  of  patronage.  Many  families  would 
avail  themselves  of  such  facilities,  for 
there  is  no  duty  incumbent  upon  the 
female  head  of  the  house  more  gener- 
ally distasteful  than  that  of  repairing 
clothing. 

"  We  throw  out  these  suggestions  for 
the  benefit  of  whom  they  may  concern. 
There  are  many  splendid  openings  for 
such  repair  shops  in  ;  and  the  en- 
terprising woman  who  opens  the  first 
one  will  be  well  rewarded,  if  she  does 
it  in  a  proper  way." 


TEACHING  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES.     ^ 


Chapter  V. 

TEACHING  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES. 

The  Profession  of  Teaching. — "Classes  and  Lessons." 
— Ordinary  Remuneration. — A  Class  in  Literature. 
— A  Few  Suggestions.  — The  Study  of  Botany. — 
Reading  Aloud. — Ordinary  Failings. — Reading  to 
an  Invalid. — Music  Lessons. — A  Modern  Cecilia. — 
Appreciation. — Instruction  in  Fancy-work. — A  Sew- 
ing-school.— A  Class  in  Mending. — An  Object  to 
Work  for. — Cooking-schools. — Teaching  as  an  Ex- 
change. 

HavenCt  considered  the  various 
branches  which  come  under  the  heads 
of  house-keeping  and  needle- work,  there 
now  remains  for  discussion  the  profes- 
sion of  teaching,  as  the  last  of  the  three 
legitimate  occupations  for  ladies  in  what 
might  be  called  the  Dark  Ages  of  wom- 
en's work. 

Teaching,  in  spite  of  its  care  and  anx- 


78  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

iety  and  wearying,  tread-mill  round  of 
duties,  has  always  been  a  popular  em- 
ployment with  the  educated — principal- 
ly because  it  is  one  of  the  few  means 
of  money-making  in  which  a  lady  may 
openly  engage  without  compromising  her 
social  standing. 

There  are  many  who,  without  being 
able  to  give  all  their  time  to  teaching, 
would  gladly  be  so  engaged  for  two  or 
three  days  of  the  week,  or  two  or  three 
hours  of  each  day;  and  "classes"  and 
"lessons"  have  multiplied  so  of  late 
years  that  a  qualified  instructor  seldom 
experiences  any  difficulty  in  carrying  out 
such  a  plan.  In  a  large  city  there  are 
often  to  be  found  fully-grown,  and  even 
middle-aged,  people  desirous  of  instruc- 
tion, because  of  a  lack  of  early  advan- 
tages; and  a  lady  with  influential  rec- 
ommendations— and  even  without  them, 
through  some  happy  accident — can  usual- 


TEACHING  IN   ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES.     79 

ly  find  occupation  among  this  class  for 
an  hour  or  two  of  the  day. 

The  price  for  such  instruction  varies 
from  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  an  hour, 
even  exceeding  this  in  some  cases;  and 
a  well- worded  advertisement  in  a  daily 
journal  will  seldom  fail  to  bring  pupils 
to  the  would-be  teachers.  The  pupils 
themselves  sometimes  advertise  for  teach- 
ers; and  it  is  the  custom  to  furnish  re- 
sponsible references  on  both  sides. 

A  class  in  literature  is  a  delightful 
employment  for  those  who  are  qualified 
to  engage  in  it,  and  one  that  is  always 
well  remunerated.  In  the  cities  such 
positions  are  apt  to  be  filled  to  overflow- 
ing; but  in  small  towns  and  country 
places  opportunities  of  this  kind  are  not 
so  numerous.  It  would  not  be  difficult, 
within  a  distance,  perhaps,  of  two  or 
three  miles,  to  collect  a  class  of  young 
girls  who  would  be  glad  to  avail  them- 


80  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

selves  of  the  services  of  a  lady  competent 
to  direct  their  reading,  and  introduce 
them  into  the  higher  walks  of  literature. 

A  class  which  met  twice  a  week,  pay- 
ing fifty  cents  each  for  a  lesson,  would 
yield  a  very  nice  weekly  sum  for  the 
amount  of  time  given,  and  would  also 
be  a  very  pleasant  means  of  increasing 
one's  spending -money.  Those  who  feel 
distrustful  of  their  own  powers  in  an  at- 
tempt to  guide  others  would  find  some 
useful  hints  in  a  small  volume  called 
"  A  Course  of  English  Reading."  This 
contains  many  valuable  suggestions  in 
regard  to  particular  lines  of  reading  and 
study  that  could  be  turned  to  good  ac- 
count by  any  one  beginning  a  class  in 
literature. 

The  study  of  botany,  which  might  be 
conducted  in  quite  an  original  manner 
by  reading  in  connection  what  old  poets 
and  new  have  written  on  the  subject  of 


TEACHING  IN  ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES.      81 

flowers,  could  thus  be  made  particularly 
attractive,  involving  picnics  and  various 
excursions,  with  charming  collections  for 
gardens  and  vases. 

With  a  teacher  capable  of  making 
things  as  interesting  as  they  could  be 
made,  such  classes  would  be  found  emi- 
nently successful  even  in  the  smallest 
place:  and  many  unappropriated  fields 
are  ready  for  the  experiment. 

The  advantages  of  good  reading — read- 
ing aloud  for  the  pleasure  of  others — 
are  beginning  to  be  appreciated;  and  a 
properly  qualified  teacher,  not  of  "  elocu- 
tion"—  which  always  suggests  making 
up  faces  and  speaking  a  piece — but  of 
easy,  unconstrained  reading  aloud,  would 
seldom  fail  to  obtain  sufficient  encour- 
agement. So  many  books  are  now  to  be 
had  on  the  proper  management  of  the 
voice,  that  almost  any  lady,  with  ordina- 
6 


82  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

lily  good  vocal  powers,  could  soon  reme- 
dy the  defects  in  her  own  reading,  and 
make  herself  competent  to  instruct  others. 

Heading  aloud  is  too  often  performed 
in  a  high-pitched,  unnatural  tone,  with  as 
little  regard  to  final  d^s  and  g's  as  pre- 
vails among  other  speakers  of  the  Eng- 
lish tongue  in  their  dealings  with  the 
letter  h.  These  faults  once  overcome,  a 
natural,  conversational  style  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  acquire ;  and  reading-classes,  with 
a  fair  and  good-natured  contest  at  the 
end  of  a  term  for  a  prize  to  the  best 
reader,  could  be  made  quite  popular  in 
the  list  of  village  enjoyments  in  winter. 

Occasionally,  a  good  reader  will  be 
able  to  find  a  couple  of  hours'  daily  em- 
ployment in  reading  aloud  to  an  invalid, 
or  one  whose  eyes  will  not  bear  use ;  but 
such  opportunities  are  not  of  frequent 
occurrence,  being  in  many  cases  only  a 
delicate  ruse  on  the  part  of  the  wealthy 


TEACHING  IX  ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES.     83 

to  put  money  into  the  hand  of  a  poor 
but  proud  friend.  Such  an  engagement, 
however,  can  sometimes  be  made  even 
with  strangers,  and  there  are  few  more 
agreeable  ways  of  earning  a  regular 
salary. 

Giving  music  lessons  "just  for  pin- 
money  "  is  a  very  general  practice,  and 
the  music  teacher,  especially  when  the 
pupils  are  small  children,  in  a  country 
village,  frequently  appears  in  the  shape 
of  a  young  lady  very  much  dressed.  The 
employment  is  very  remunerative  under 
a  reasonable  amount  of  patronage ;  and 
the  hard-working  mechanic  and  his  equal- 
ly hard-working  wife  are  particularly 
anxious  to  have  their  daughters  taught 
to  "  play  the  pianner."  To  see  Celia  or 
"  Hanner  Jane  "  seated,  of  a  morning,  at 
the  instrument,  in  "  unwomanly  rags " 
and  unkempt  hair,  shrieking  forth  the 
pathetic  complaint — 


84  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

"No  one  to  love  me, 
None  to  caress," 

far  from  producing  acquiescence  in  the 
justice  of  such  a  fate,  excites  a  pleasant 
thrill  of  satisfaction  in  the  parental  bo- 
soms that  this  gifted  being  is  actual 
household  property. 

The  thoroughly  trained  and  compe- 
tent music -teacher  will  find  more  con- 
genial pupils,  and  receive  a  liberal  price 
for  her  lessons.  A  little  extra  income 
earned  in  this  way  often  enables  the 
teacher  to  improve  herself  in  the  higher 
branches  of  her  art ;  and  when  the  pu- 
pils are  friends,  or  children  of  friends, 
the  occupation  can  be  made  a  very  pleas- 
ant one. 

A  class  in  fancy-work  would  be  found 
very  taking  in  small  places,  where  such 
advantages  are  not  so  easily  obtained  as 
in  the  city ;  and  the  ruling  mania,  what- 


TEACHIXG   IX   ITS   VARIOUS   BRANCHES.     85 

ever  it  might  be,  would  be  eagerly 
sought  after.  The  old-fashioned  mania 
for  wax  flowers  was  revived  some  years 
ago,  and  teachers  of  the  art  found  it 
very  profitable;  but  it  is  decidedly  out 
of  favor  now,  except  in  remote  places. 
One  dollar  an  hour  is  the  usual  price  for 
such  instruction ;  or  it  may  be  given, 
like  embroidery  in  silk,  gold  bullion, 
etc.,  in  a  course  of  so  many  lessons. 
Stitches  in  knitting,  crochet- work,  and 
ordinary  embroidery  do  not  command 
so  high  a  price. 

Instruction  in  plain  needle-work  is 
much  needed,  and  not  so  easy  to  obtain 
as  instruction  in  fancy-work.  Quite 
lately,  in  a  small  country  place,  a  lady 
opened  a  sewing-school  on  Saturdays, 
which  was  well  attended  by  girls  from 
twelve  to  fifteen.  Only  plain  sewing 
and  mending  were  taught — accomplish- 


86  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

merits  usually  more  appreciated  by  par- 
ents than  by  pupils ;  but  the  attendance 
of  the  volatile  damsels  was  secured  by 
an  interesting  story  read  aloud  during 
the  lessons,  and  some  little  refreshment 
and  a  game  of  romps  at  the  end.  The 
two  hours7  instruction  was  well  remu- 
nerated ;  and  there  are  few  mothers, 
able  to  do  so,  who  would  not  gladly 
pay  for  having  their  girls  thoroughly 
grounded  in  the  rudiments  of  needle- 
work by  one  who  understands  the  art, 
and  who  also  understands  half-grown 
girls. 

A  mending-class  would  be  a  novelty, 
but,  in  connection  with  plain  sewing, 
it  could  scarcely  fail  of  success.  There 
are  always  stockings  to  darn,  and  rav- 
ages to  repair,  in  the  best-regulated  fam- 
ilies; but  there  is  not  always  some  one 
who  can  do  these  things  properly,  and 
sometimes  the  repairing  is  worse  than 


TEACHING   IX  ITS  VARIOUS  BRANCHES.     87 

the  rent.  The  woman  who  can  mend 
well  has  all  that  is  saved  in  this  way 
added  to  her  income;  and  few  more 
profitable  and  convenient  uses  can  be 
found  for  needle  and  thread. 

Such  a  class  could  be  made  very  in- 
teresting by  having  an  object  to  work 
for.  Each  pupil  might  bring  the  dis- 
carded garments  of  the  family  to  be  re- 
paired for  the  use  of  the  poor,  or  placed, 
when  good  enough,  in  a  box  for  foreign 
or  domestic  missions ;  for,  with  such  an 
incentive,  unsuspected  talent,  in  the  way 
of  making  old  clothes  look  almost  as 
good  as  new,  would  be  developed  to  a 
surprising  extent. 

Cooking-schools  are  not  a  modern  de- 
vice in  the  way  of  teaching,  but  an  old 
one  revived.  It  used  to  be  the  fashion 
to  teach  ladies  how  to  cook;  but  this 
instruction  probably  took  the  form  of 


88  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

wonderful  cakes  and  confections,  rather 
than  that  of  ordinary  viands 

"...  Not  too  good 
For  human  nature's  daily  food." 

A  school  similar  to  those  now  establish- 
ed in  two  or  three  large  cities,  teaching 
thoroughly  the  preparation  of  common 
family  meals,  would  be  appreciated  in 
most  towns  and  settlements ;  and  a  lady 
known  by  her  neighbors  to  be  an  adept 
in  making  bread,  biscuits,  and  cakes, 
need  not  often  seek  for  pupils  in  vain. 
The  arts  of  pickling,  preserving,  sirup 
and  wine  making,  might  be  added ;  and 
the  graduates  of  such  a  school  could 
give  an  entertainment  provided  by  their 
own  fair  hands,  each  dish  being  labelled 
with  the  name  of  the  maker. 

Almost  any  gift  may  be  turned  to  ac- 
count in  the  way  of  teaching,  provided 


TEACHING  IX   ITS   VARIOUS  BRANCHES.     89 

it  is  something  that  one's  neighbors  care 
to  learn ;  and  sometimes  an  exchange 
may  be  made,  without  the  medium  of 
currency,  that  will  prove  of  mutual  ad- 
vantage. A  person,  for  instance,  well 
supplied  with  fruit,  vegetables,  or  the 
like,  may  be  glad  to  part  with  a  portion 
of  these  commodities  in  payment  for 
instruction ;  while  the  other  party  is 
equally  glad  to  receive  so  useful  an 
equivalent  for  the  money  earned.  Both 
are  thus  accommodated  ;  but,  if  a  money 
return  had  been  insisted  on,  no  arrange- 
ment could  have  been  effected  between 
them. 

Other  forms  of  instruction  may  be 
suggested  by  these  brief  hints,  which 
are  not  intended  for  those  who  are  able 
to  devote  the  whole  of  their  time  to  the 
business  of  teaching. 


90  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 


Chapter  VI. 

LITERATURE  AND  WRITING. 

"Prose  and  "Worse." — Undeveloped  Talent. — Mistaken 
Ideas. — Some  Open  Doors. — A  Mercenary  View  of 
the  Subject. — What  to  Write  About. — Rates  of  Re- 
muneration.— Literary  Giants. — Century  Plants. — 
What  an  Author  Needs. — Novel  Writing  a  Trade. 
— Works  of  Fiction. — Profits  of  Periodical  Litera- 
ture.— Elements  of  Success. — Value  of  Advertising. 
— Sensational  Writers. — A  Lady's  Attempt  with  a 
Dime  Novel. — Sunday-school  Books. — A  List  of 
Periodicals. — Writing  by  Proxy. — Advertisements. 
— Letter- writing. — Legal  Copying. — Book-keeping. 

Within  the  last  few  years,  when  so 
many  non -toilers  have  been  compelled 
to  consider  more  or  less  the  subject  of 
money  -  making,  the  discovery  has  been 
very  generally  made  that  literary  work 
is  the  most  agreeable  and  remunerative 
of  the  various  occupations  suitable  for 
a  lady. 


LITERATURE  AND   WRITING.  91 

This  general  conviction  has  inundat- 
ed the  market  with  attempts  in  "prose 
and  worse  ;"  while  bitter  disappointment 
awaited  the  owners  of  bulky  manu- 
scripts who  imagined  writing  to  be  "the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  do," 

A  poet  says  that 

"  Men  have  been  cradled  into  poetry  by  wrong," 

and  it  is  well  known  that  circumstances 
often  bring  to  light  unsuspected  talent 
— a  poem,  or  a  novel,  of  undisputed  mer- 
it, having  sometimes  been  written  to 
meet  a  financial  crisis;  but  such  cases 
are  rare,  and  triumphs  of  this  kind  are 
almost  invariably  preceded  by  under- 
ground work  of  some  sort. 

That  a  person  of  good  average  educa- 
tion, who  needs  money  badly,  can,  with 
a  little  practice,  make  literature  a  means 
of  support,  is  a  very  pleasing  fallacy,  but 
one  that  has  very  little  foundation  in  fact. 


92  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

The  ability  merely  to  write  acceptably 
and  profitably  is  very  delightful,  but  it 
does  not  come  all  at  once ;  and  to  many, 
who  are  ambitious  of  it,  it  never  comes 
at  all.  Culture  and  the  advantages  of 
society  are  valuable  aids  in  the  develop- 
ment of  literary  talent,  but  they  cannot 
bestow  it  where  it  does  not  exist,  and 
much,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  done 
without  them. 

A  pretty  poem,  a  graceful  story,  or  a 
bright  little  volume,  may  be  within  the 
reach  of  those  by  whom  the  higher  tri- 
umphs of  literature  are  never  attained; 
and  all  these  things  have  usually  a  de- 
cided market  value.  There  are  so  many 
different  kinds  of  writing  —  so  mauy 
channels  opened  in  magazine  and  news- 
paper literature,  and  especially  in  books 
and  stories  for  children — that  there  is  a 
niche  for  almost  everything  that  is  real- 
ly good.    So  little  outlay,  too,  is  required 


LITERATURE  AND   WRITING.  93 

— pen,  ink,  and  paper,  and  a  few  postage- 
stamps  constituting  the  capital — that  the 
least  chance  of  success  seems  to  justify 
the  beginner  in  making  the  attempt. 

In  these  pages  writing  is  viewed,  like 
every  other  employment,  solely  in  regard 
to  its  money  returns :  of  the  higher 
aims  of  genius,  and  a  conscientious  de- 
sire to  benefit  mankind,  it  is  out  of  place 
to  speak  here.  For  those  who  need  such 
information,  the  following  paragraphs, 
from  a  work  on  women's  employments, 
published  some  time  ago,  may  be  found 
useful : 

"Subjects,"  says  the  writer,  "are  as 
numerous  as  the  objects  around  us,  and 
suited  to  all  moods  and  diversities  of 
mind.  To  the  contributor  I  would  say : 
Your  writing  will  be  likely  to  find  read- 
ers, whether  it  be  grave  or  gay,  sad  or 
sprightly,  witty  or  jovial;  whether  one 
making  a  draught  on  the  imagination  or 


94  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

the  judgment;  whether  one  displaying 
your  own  attainments,  or  calling  to  aid 
the  opinions  and  requirements  of  oth- 
ers ;  in  short,  one  of  thought,  fancy,  or 
facts. 

"Your  friends  may  like  your  ideas 
draped  in  poetry,  or  the  more  substan- 
tial dress  of  prose.  One  is  like  gold,  the 
other  like  iron.  One  serves  for  ornament, 
the  other  for  use.  The  true  poet  is  a 
gifted  person — a  heaven-born  talent  does 
he  or  she  possess.  If  you  have  good  de- 
scriptive talents,  you  can  write  stories — 
laying  the  scenes  in  far-away  countries 
that  are  not  much  known,  and  yet  elicit- 
ing some  interest.  And  as  to  the  sub- 
jects of  a  moral  cast,  their  name  is  le- 
gion. Magazine-writing  furnishes  a  pal- 
atable way  of  drawing  attention  to  in- 
dividual follies,  or  furnishing  a  satire  on 
the  inconsistencies  and  exactions  of  soci- 
ety in  general.     If  you  attempt  to  write 


LITERATURE  AND  WRITING.  95 

natural  stories,  let  your  scenes  and  events 
be  such  as  occur  in  every -day  life." 

As  to  the  prices  paid  for  acceptable 
articles,  they  vary  according  to  the  style 
of  the  article  and  the  character  of  the 
periodical,  as  well  as  the  reputation  of 
the  writer.  Harpers'  periodicals  pay 
about  ten  dollars  for  a  thousand  words ; 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  about  the  same 
price  per  page;  and  others  in  proportion 
to  their  circulation  and  cost.  Some  of 
the  little  Sunday-school  papers,  which 
require  tiny  articles,  make  very  tiny  re- 
turns. A  lady  lately  received  from  one 
of  them  a  very  polite  note  containing 
a  dollar  bill,  and  stating  that  it  was 
"  in  payment  for  her  '  Camelopard ' " — 
a  fragment  of  natural  history  which, 
fortunately  for  her,  she  had  not  valued 
very  highly. 

The  paper  in  question  is  an  honest, 
substantial  little  sheet,  that  always  pays 


96  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

for  what  it  uses  at  a  settled  rate  per 
column  ;  but  there  are  periodicals  whose 
proprietors  will  publish  articles,  even  by- 
well-known  writers,  and  then  calmly  say 
that  "it  is  not  their  custom  to  pay  for 
contributions  unless  arrangements  to  that 
effect  are  made  beforehand !"  It  is  safer, 
therefore,  except  in  writing  for  the  pe- 
riodicals mentioned,  and  those  of  similar 
standing,  to  make  the  arrangements  be- 
forehand. 

In  an  article  written  some  time  ago  it 
is  said :  "  I  have  now  before  me  a  state- 
ment from  a  single  publisher,  in  which 
he  says  that  to  Messrs.  Willis,  Longfel- 
low, Bryant,  and  Allston  his  price  was 
uniformly  $50  for  a  poetical  article,  long 
or  short ;  and  his  readers  know  that  they 
were  generally  very  short — in  one  case, 
only  fourteen  lines.  To  numerous  others 
it  was  from  $25  to  $40.  In  one  case  he 
has  paid  $25  a  page  for  prose.     To  Mr. 


LITERATURE  AND   WRITING.  97 

Cooper  he  paid  $1800  for  a  novel,  and 
$1000  for  a  series  of  naval  biographies, 
the  author  retaining  the  copyright  for 
separate  publication ;  and  in  such  cases, 
if  the  work  be  good,  its  appearance  in 
the  magazine  acts  as  the  best  of  adver- 
tisements. To  Mr.  James  he  paid  $1200 
for  a  novel,  leaving  him  also  the  copy- 
right. For  a  single  number  of  his  jour- 
nal he  has  paid  to  authors  $1500. 

These  names,  most  of  which  belong 
to  the  literature  of  a  past  generation, 
show  that  the  article  is  by  no  means  a 
modern  one;  and  at  the  present  day 
there  are  women  -  writers  who  receive 
even  greater  sums  than  these.  Mrs. 
Stowe,  Mrs.  Hodgson -Burnett,  and  Miss 
Phelps  are  probably  the  best  paid  of  our 
female  authors;  but  these  ladies  have 
exceptional  talent,  and  belong  rather  to 
the  century-plant  order. 

Their  humble  sisters,  however,  need 
1 


98  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

not  despair  of  a  moderate  degree  of  suc- 
cess; and  those  who  fancy  that  they 
possess  any  powers  of  imagination  and 
expression  have  at  least  the  right  to  try 
their  wings.  "The  indispensable  quali- 
fications to  make  a  writer  are  —  a  tal- 
ent for  literary  composition,  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  language,  and  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  subject  to  be  treated." 

Mr.  Anthony  Trollope  declared  that 
novel-writing  could  be  made  as  much  a 
matter  of  apprenticeship  as  any  other 
trade;  and  he  carried  out  his  views  by 
bringing  up  his  son  to  his  own  calling. 
The  volumes  thus  produced  by  machin- 
ery are  not  remarkable  for  freshness; 
but  they  show  what  may  be  done  by 
regularly  learning  the  trade. 

In  works  of  fiction  there  is  always  a 
wide  field  for  women.  "This  class  of 
books  requires  less  time,  less  study,  and 
less  money,  and  rewards  the  authors  pe- 


LITERATURE  AND   WRITING.  99 

cuniarily  better,  than  any  other  kind  of 
work,  considering,  of  course,  the  compar- 
atively small  amount  of  application  re- 
quired." This  is  the  universal  testimo- 
ny; and  a  poor  story  is  often  more  sal- 
able than  an  admirably  written,  instruc- 
tive article  devoid  of  entertainment. 

People  write  from  many  different  mo- 
tives, such  as  love  of  fame,  wealth,  influ- 
ence, and  a  desire  to  do  good ;  if  from 
the  second  motive,  there  are  various 
things  to  be  considered.  Among  these 
is  the  testimony  of  a  very  successful 
writer  that  she  made  a  mistake  in  de- 
voting most  of  her  time  to  periodical 
literature,  as  books  are  infinitely  more 
profitable ;  and  Rose  Terry  Cooke,  one 
of  our  most  charming  magazinists,  whose 
stories  are  probably  quarrelled  for  by 
the  editors,  instead  of  ever  being  return- 
ed to  her,  distinctly  states  that  she  has 
never  yet  made  by  her  pen  one  thousand 


100  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

dollars  a  year.  Had  she  produced  a 
book,  her  account  would  probably  have 
been  very  different. 

The  most  immediately  remunerative 
kind  of  book  is  a  bright,  taking  story 
that  can  be  read  of  a  summer's  day — a 
book  with  a  title  that  seizes  the  fancy 
at  once,  and  in  which  commonplace  oc- 
currences are  treated  in  an  uncommon 
way.  Originality  of  expression  is  a  pow- 
erful ingredient  to  success ;  and  delicate 
touches  of  this  kind  are  most  effective 
in  completing  an  attractive  whole.  Who 
does  not  remember  that,  among  the  many 
charms  of  "  Rutledge,"  the  heroine  had 
no  name  ? 

Literary  merit,  although  indispensable 
to  an  enduring  fame,  is  by  no  means  nec- 
essary to  moneyed  success ;  and  a  recent 
review  of  a  popular  volume  gives  a  fair 
idea  of  what  is  needed : 

"The  reason  of  the  great  success  of 


LITERATURE   AND   WRITING.  101 

lies    almost  wholly  outside   its 

covers ;  it .  is  not  due  to  anything  for 
which  the  author  is  to  be  held  responsi- 
ble at  all,  excepting  the  title.  Given  at 
any  time  a  catching  title,  enough  merit 
to  rescue  the  volume  from  dulness,  and 
an  abundance  of  ingenious  advertising, 
and  what  trifle  of  the  kind  could  not 
be  forced  into  large  circulation  ?  There 
must,  however,  be  comparatively  a  tak- 
ing phrase  in  the  title,  as  well  as  exten- 
'  sive  placarding,  to  secure  the  result ;  di- 
vorce one  from  the  other,  and  a  different 
story  would  be  the  consequence." 

Sensational  periodicals  and  papers, 
that  deal  in  blood -and -thunder  litera- 
ture, pay  poorly  for  the  work  done,  but 
require  large  supplies  of  it.  Occasion- 
ally, some  modern  Scherezade,  who  can 
spin  a  story  out  endlessly,  and  season 
it  highly  with  blood-curdling  advent- 
ures, receives  a  handsome  salarv  for  her 


102  MOXEY-MAKIXG   FOR  LADIES. 

weekly  contributions.  One  of  this  class 
of  writers  had  the  first  story  sent  to  a 
certain  paper  returned  to  her,  "  to  be  re- 
written grammatically  and  spelled  cor- 
rectly " — 'English  and  orthography  be- 
ing equally  abominable ;  but  madam  re- 
sponded that  "she  couldn't  write  at  all, 
if  she  had  to  bother  about  the  grammar 
and  spelling."  The  quick  eye  of  the 
reader  had  detected  in  the  untidy  sheets 
a  decided  genius  for  hair  -  breadth  es- 
capes, and  midnight  murders,  and  mys- 
terious poisonings;  and  as  these  uncan- 
ny subjects  formed  the  staple  of  his  pro- 
gramme, he  hired  a  person  to  decipher 
the  manuscripts  and  reduce  them  to  a 
civilized  condition,  while  the  gifted  au- 
thoress was  placed  on  the  regular  staff  at 
an  absurdly  high  rate  of  remuneration. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  for  an  educated 
and  refined  lady  to  do  this  kind  of  writ- 
ing successfully.     One  who  attempted  it 


LITERATURE   AXD   WKITING.  103 

some  years  ago  often  refers  to  it  as  an 
amusing  experience.  She  had  been  ad- 
vised to  write  a  dime  novel,  which  was 
represented  as  a  very  easy  task,  and  sure 
to  bring  in  a  certain  moderate  sum — the 
great  point  being  to  make  it  as  sensa- 
tional as  possible.  For  a  first  attempt 
in  this  style,  our  authoress  felt  that  she 
had  acquitted  herself  very  creditably  in 
making  her  hero,  in  the  first  chapter,  go 
crazy,  and  all  but  commit  suicide,  kill 
his  child,  and  turn  his  wife  out-of-doors ; 
but  the  manuscript  was  returned  to  her, 
with  a  polite  note,  stating  that  it  was  of 
too  domestic  a  character  to  answer  their 
purpose! 

Having  done  her  very  worst,  the  lady 
retired  from  the  field  discomfited. 

Sunday-school  books  of  the  right  kind 
are  very  much  needed  —  not  religious 
novels,  but  books  suitable  for  intelligent 
children  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age. 


104  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

It  is  probably  owing  to  the  prevalent 
idea  that  a  Sunday-school  book  is  very 
easy  to  write,  that  the  market  is  flooded 
with  such  a  quantity  of  trash;  but  a 
book  of  this  kind,  that  shall  accomplish 
its  high  mission,  cannot  be  written  by 
every  one. 

There  is  no  dearth  of  subjects;  there 
are  such  beautiful  things  in  Nature  to 
those  who  have  learned  to  look  up  to 
Nature's  God,  such  a  wealth  of  clouds 
and  sunsets  and  early  dawns,  with  all 
the  witching  changes  of  the  seasons ; 
and,  far  more  beautiful  even  than  these, 
the  lovely,  heroic  deeds  of  daily  life 
that  sometimes  gild  the  humblest  homes, 
and  wind  like  a  thread  of  gold  through 
the  most  prosaic  and  unpromising  sur- 
roundings. Such  materials  are  always 
at  hand  for  the  true  artist. 

Commonplace,  goody -goody  books — 
narratives  that  are  largely  composed  of 


LITERATURE   AXD   WRITING.  1Q5 

conversations  in  which  the  characters 
"grind"  in  a  style  that  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  real  life — have  had  their 
day.  The  author  of  a  volume  of  this 
description  rather  boasted  that,  when 
she  began  to  write,  she  had  not  the 
slightest  idea  what  she  was  going  to 
say.  "That  is  just  what  I  should  have 
supposed  from  reading  it,"  replied  her 
plain-spoken  auditor. 

The  power  that  is  needed  in  Sunday- 
school  literature  is  the  ability  to  take 
the  common,  every -day  events  of  ordi- 
nary life  and  make  of  them  sermons  that 
shall  elevate  and  encourage  all  who  read 
them : 

li  Footprints  that  perchance  another, 
Sailing  o'er  life's  rugged  main, 
Some  forlorn  and  ship  wrecked  brother, 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again." 

A  list  of  the  various  periodicals  which 
pay  for  contributions,  some  liberally,  and 


106  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

others  very  moderately,  may  be  of  use 
to  those  who  are  just  beginning  to  write 
for  publication.  Those  marked  with  a 
star  are  children's  periodicals : 

Harper's  Magazine New  York. 

Weekly 

"        Bazar 

"        Young  People* 

Scribner's  Monthly 

St  Nicholas* 

Leslie's  Lady's  Journal 

"       Sunday  Magazine 

"       Chimney  Corner 

Demorest's  Monthly 

Magazine  of  American  History      .... 

The  Churchman 

The  Independent 

The  Christian  Weekly 

The  Christian  Union 

The  Home  Journal 

The  Daily  Graphic 

Lippiucott's  Magazine Philadelphia. 

Arthur's  Home  Magazine     .     .     . 

Godey's  Lady's  Book 

Peterson's  Magazine 

The  Sunday-school  Times 

The  Youth's  World* 


LITERATURE   AXD   WRITING.  107 

The  Sabbath -school  Visitor*  ....  Philadelphia. 

The  Atlantic  Monthly Boston. 

The  Youth's  Companion* " 

Ballou's  Monthly " 

The  Waverley  Magazine " 

Wide  Awake* " 

The  Congregationalist " 

The  Wellspring* " 

The  Dayspring* " 

There  are  probably  others  scattered 
over  the  country;  but  those  enumerated 
wTill  be  more  than  sufficient  for  the  most 
industrious  writer. 

Sometimes  persons  with  a  ready  pen, 
but  not  much  literary  genius,  make  a 
good  income  by  doing  other  people's 
writing ;  and  lectures  that  are  delivered 
with  considerable  effect  are  not  always 
the  wrork  of  the  speaker.  A  case  wras 
lately  mentioned  of  a  young  man  who 
earned  a  comfortable  living  by  writing 
lectures,  pamphlets  for  patent  medicines, 
and  advertisements. 


108  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

An  enterprising  woman,  too,  was  cited 
who  first  secured  an  entire  column  in  a 
daily  paper — which  she  obtained  at  a 
greatly  reduced  rate  from  that  charged 
for  single  advertisements;  then  she  vis- 
ited different  business  people  —  or  sent 
persons  whom  she  employed  for  that 
purpose — representing  to  them  the  great 
advantages  of  advertising  in  that  partic- 
ular column  ;  and,  finally,  she  wrote  out 
the  advertisements  in  an  attractive  style 
and  had  them  inserted,  very  much  to 
her  own  advantage. 

Writing  letters  for  those  who  are  not 
gifted  in  expressing  themselves  has  oc- 
casionally been  found  profitable;  and 
persons  with  a  very  large  correspond- 
ence are  often  glad  to  avail  themselves 
of  such  help.  The  duties  of  an  amanu- 
ensis are  comparatively  light,  and  the  re- 
muneration fair. 

But   copying  for   lawyers,  for   which 


LITERATURE   AXD   WRITING.  109 

there  are  so  many  advertisements  in  the 
daily  papers,  is  by  no  means  a  desirable 
employment.  It  is  represented  as  very 
dirty,  tiresome  work,  and  poorly  paid. 
Three  cents  for  every  hundred  words  is 
an  exceptional  rate,  as  it  is  often er  less; 
a  very  clear,  round,  legible  handwriting 
is  required,  and  any  mistake  must  be 
rectified  by  doing  the  work  over.  On 
the  whole,  there  are  many  employments 
more  attractive  than  this. 

Directing  envelopes  is  very  much  of 
the  same  nature;  and  a  small  sum  is 
paid  for  them  by  the  thousand.  Some- 
times these  employments  can  be  carried 
on  in  one's  own  house;  but  oftener  they 
are  regular  office- work,  and  quite  out  of 
the  question  for  a  lady. 


110  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 


Chapter  VII. 

ART    INDUSTRIES. 

Schools  of  Design. — Fundamental  Instruction.— Im- 
possible Achievements. — Practical  Skill  in  Design- 
ing.— Mechanical  Drawing.— Women  as  Architects. 
—Engraving  on  Gold  and  Silver.— The  New  York 
Society  of  Decorative  Art.— Objects  of  the  Society. 
—A  Depot  for  First-class  Work.— Conditions  for 
Exhibitors.— China  Painting.— The  Decoration  of 
Fans.— Hand-screens,  Plaques,  etc.— Door-panels. — 
Illustrations  for  Books.— A  Superfluity  of  Genius. 

The  Schools  of  Design  which  have  been 
opened  in  most  of  the  large  cities  afford 
ladies  many  advantages  for  learning  how 
to  make  money  pleasantly.  The  course 
is  rather  tiresome,  perhaps,  for  a  grown 
person,  and  especially  for  one  feeling  the 
need  of  speedy  returns  for  any  invest- 
ment, even  of  time — four  years  being  the 
time  required  for  graduation;  but,  if  a 


ART  INDUSTRIES.  HI 

pupil  desires  to  study  some  particular 
branch  for  a  limited  period,  arrange- 
ments can  generally  be  made  to  do  so. 

The  peculiar  advantages  offered  by 
the  School  of  Design  are  the  very  thor- 
ough nature  of  the  instruction,  the  abun- 
dance  and  variety  of  models  to  work 
from,  and  the  very  moderate  charges  to 
those  who  intend  making  it  in  any  way 
a  means  of  support.  The  industrial 
branches  of  the  fine  arts  receive  especial 
attention;  and  the  opportunities  for  ac- 
quiring a  practical  knowledge  of  design- 
ing, lithography,  wood-engraving,  etc.,  in 
addition  to  all  kinds  of  drawing  and 
painting,  are  quite  unrivalled. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  higher  order  of  designs  are  prac- 
tically unavailable  for  want  of  knowl- 
edge on  the  part  of  the  designer  of  the 
conditions  of  the  particular  manufacture 
in  question.     The   economic  possibility 


112  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

and  aptitude  are  not  studied  ;  and  hence, 
the  manufacturers  say,  are  enormous 
wastes  of  thought,  skill,  and  industry. 
This  want  supplied,  a  field  of  industry 
practically  boundless  would  be  opened 
to  female  artists,  as  well  as  artisans; 
and  it  would  be  an  enlightened  policy 
to  look  to  this,  while  the  whole  world 
seems  to  be  opening  its  ports  to  our 
productions. 

These  considerations  make  the  popu- 
lar stories  of  heroines  who  achieve,  with- 
out any  preliminary  training,  the  highest 
success  in  their  first  attempts  at  design- 
ing utter  absurdities — the  most  unpre- 
tentious of  wall-paper  patterns  requiring 
some  idea  of  means  to  an  end  to  make 
it  available.  Such  employments  are  de- 
lightful enough  in  themselves  to  repay 
a  reasonable  amount  of  application  to 
the  study  of  rudiments;  and  a  well- 
grounded   designer,   with    an    inventive 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  H3 

fancy,  will  find  abundant  and  well -re- 
munerated work. 

Practical  skill  in  drawing  is  absolute- 
ly essential  to  a  good  designer ;  and,  with 
this  foundation,  the  study  becomes  an 
easy  one.  Wall-papers  and  calicoes  con- 
sume endless  designs ;  and,  in  addition, 
there  are  carpets,  silks,  ribbons,  furniture, 
lace,  silver,  jewellery,  etc. 

Many  ladies  make  quite  a  handsome 
income  by  drawing  for  the  Patent  Office, 
patent  agents,  etc.,  the  drawings  being 
chiefly  linear,  mechanical  ones,  and  the 
remuneration  varying  according  to  abil- 
ity. The  fact,  however,  is  emphasized 
that  "it  requires  mechanical  knowledge, 
which  is  not  very  often  possessed  by 
women,  but  is  a  branch  of  study  that 
would  be  found  both  pleasant  and  prof- 
itable, especially  if  they  were  prepared 
for  it  by  an  elementary  course  in  the 
public  schools.     It  is  not  a  branch  that 


114  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

admits  of  much  display,  and  is,  therefore, 
almost  entirely  neglected,  or  taught  in 
such  a  way  as  to  be  utterly  futile  for 
all  practical  purposes." 

Architectural  drawing  is  also  a  use- 
ful, pleasant,  and  very  profitable  acquire- 
ment ;  and  there  is  no  reason  why  wom- 
en should  not  be  eminently  successful  as 
architects.  Houses  planned  by  ladies 
could  scarcely  fail  to  be  more  satisfac- 
tory in  detail,  and  very  much  more  con- 
venient ;  and  some  especially  comfortable 
and  attractive  houses  have  been  so  plan- 
ned. It  is  quite  an  unusual  thing  to  see 
a  lady  pursuing  the  study  or  practice  of 
architecture ;  and  yet  "  the  wife  of  Er- 
win  von  Steinbach  materially  assisted  her 
husband  in  the  erection  of  the  famous 
Strasbourg  Cathedral;  and  within  its 
walls  a  sculptured  stone  represents  the 
husband  and  wife  as  consulting  together 
on  the  plan." 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  H5 

Almost  every  woman  sees  something 
to  change  in  the  house  she  inhabits,  and 
knows  just  how  she  would  have  ordered 
the  arrangement  of  closets,  staircases, 
etc.,  to  economize  room  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage ;  but,  without  some  knowledge 
of  the  rudiments  of  architecture,  it  is  not 
easy  to  draw  a  plan  that  can  be  practi- 
cally carried  out.  A  proper  course  of 
instruction,  combined  with  the  natural 
inclination  of  women  for  comforts  and 
conveniences  in  the  place  where  so  much 
of  their  lives  is  spent,  would  result  in  a 
new  and  improved  order  of  house  archi- 
tecture, as  well  as  remunerative  and 
lady-like  employment  to  many  who  are 
now  wondering  what  they  can  do. 

Engraving  of  various  kinds  is  a  popu- 
lar branch  of  study  at  the  School  of  De- 
sign— a  knowledge  of  this  art  insuring 
constant  and  remunerative  employment 


116  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

The  work  of  ladies  in  chasing  on  gold 
and  silver  is  frequently  in  demand;  and 
the  qualifications  needed  are  good  draw- 
ing and  penmanship. 

While  the  instructions  received  in  the 
School  of  Design  are  more  particularly 
directed  to  the  industrial  branches  of  the 
fine  arts,  the  Societies  of  Decorative  Art 
furnish  a  somewhat  higher  and  more 
aesthetic  culture.  China  -  painting,  tile- 
painting,  panel-painting,  art  needle-work, 
and  everything  of  an  ornamental  nature 
that  conforms  to  the  principles  of  true 
art,  receive  careful  attention  ;  and  a  mar- 
ket is  provided  for  all  work  that  may 
be  found  satisfactory. 

The  instruction  in  these  institutions  is 
not  free,  except  for  a  limited  number  of 
pupils  who  may  have  sufficiently  influ- 
ential friends  to  procure  scholarships  for 
them;  but  the  salesrooms  offer  unusual 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  H7 

advantages  in  disposing  of  all  work  that 
is  approved  by  the  Committees. 

The  New  York  Society  of  Decorative 
Art  states  the  objects  of  its  institution 
to  be: 

"  1st.  To  establish  a  place  for  the  ex- 
hibition and  sale  of  decorative  work,  and 
to  encourage  the  production  of  such  work 
among  women. 

"  2d.  To  distribute  information  with 
regard  to  the  various  art  industries 
which  have  been  found  profitable  in 
other  countries,  and  to  increase  the  sup- 
ply of  hand-wrought  decoration. 

"  3d.  To  induce  art- workers  to  master 
thoroughly  the  details  of  some  one 
method  of  decoration,  not  only  that  they 
may  make  for  themselves  a  reputation 
of  commercial  value,  but  that  they  may 
also  assist  in  establishing  a  high  stand- 
ard of  excellence. 

"  4th.  To  assist  those  who  have  work- 


118  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

ed  unsuccessfully  in  choosing  some  prac- 
tical and  popular  direction  for  their  labor. 

"  5th.  To  form  classes  in  various  kinds 
of  decorative  work. 

"  6th.  To  establish  a  library  of  books 
and  manuals  of  design. 

"  7th.  To  form  connections  with  man- 
ufacturers and  importers,  and  to  obtain 
orders  from  private  individuals,  and  from 
dealers  in  decorated  pottery,  china,  tiles, 
cabinet  -  work,  carvings,  draperies,  em- 
broideries, and  articles  of  household  art. 

"  8th.  To  develop  the  beautiful  art  of 
needle- work,  and  assist  in  adapting  it  to 
the  requirements  of  house-furnishing  and 
decoration. 

"  9th.  To  furnish  a  market,  outside  of 
a  limited  circle  of  friends,  for  the  large 
amount  of  artistic  work  done  by  those 
who  do  not  make  it  a  profession,  but 
who  have  attained  a  professional  skill 
in  execution." 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  H9 

The  last  clause  is  of  especial  interest 
to  those  for  whom  these  pages  are  in- 
tended; and  a  number  of  ladies  gifted 
with  artistic  taste  and  skilful  fingers 
find  the  society  rooms  a  most  satisfac- 
tory depot  for  their  productions.  A 
visit  to  these  rooms  is  an  introduction 
to  the  principles  of  ornamental  art ;  and 
only  objects  of  dainty  design  and  finish- 
ed execution  are  admitted  to  the  artis- 
tically arranged  shelves  and  tables. 

Here  may  be  seen  exquisitely-painted 
cups  and  saucers,  tiles,  and  panels,  won- 
derful needle- work  on  curtains,  portieres^ 
table-covers,  etc. — even  tidies  and  d'oy- 
leys  that  look  like  embroidered  poems, 
But  "frames  decorated  in  color — except 
as  mirror  frames  —  and  painted  passe- 
partouts, wax  flowers  and  fruit,  feather 
flowers,  leather-work,  skeletonized  leaves, 
painted  candles,  knitting,  crochet,  Ber- 
lin-wool   work,   underclothing,  or    em 


120  MONEY-MAKING  FOR    LADIES. 

broidered  portions  of  it,  and  plain  sew- 
ing, are  excluded  as  inadmissible  under 
the  term  of  '  art ;'  also  imitations  of 
Limoges  and  other  pottery,  decorated 
with  oil-color  and  varnish.  An  article 
which  is  not  honestly  what  it  purports 
to  be  cannot  be  considered  a  work  of 
art." 

Here,  then,  is  an  opening  for  the  fa- 
vored few  whose  work  will  pass  the 
jealously -guarded  portals;  but,  once 
within,  appreciation  and  liberal  remu- 
neration are  almost  sure  to  follow.  Ex- 
hibitors are  not  obliged  to  be  pupils, 
nor  to  have  an  acquaintance  with  any 
member  of  the  society  to  obtain  the 
privilege  of  admission  ;  but,  unless  intro- 
duced by  a  subscriber,  a  yearly  entrance- 
fee  of  five  dollars  is  demanded.  Each 
one  will  receive,  upon  application,  a 
number  which  will  represent  her  work 
upon  the  books  of  the  society,  and  which 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  121 

must  be  added  to  name  and  address  in 
"  business  letters." 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  live  in  the  city 
in  order  to  enter  work  at  the  Society  of 
Decorative  Art,  the  only  stipulation  in 
regard  to  distance  being  that  "  all  work 
must  be  delivered  to  the  society  free  of 
expense."  Therefore,  ladies  living  in  the 
country,  who  are  able  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements, have  the  same  privileges  in 
this  respect  as  their  city  sisters. 

China-painting  produces,  perhaps,  the 
most  popular  and  profitable  results  of 
any  of  the  art  studies;  and  almost  any 
one,  with  an  eye  for  color  and  some 
knowledge  of  drawing,  can  easily  ac- 
quire it.  A  lady  who  had  successfully 
practised  ordinary  drawing  and  paint- 
ing, although  quite  self-taught,  managed, 
in  the  course  of  a  single  day  spent  at 
the  School  of  Design,  to  become  suffi- 
ciently acquainted  with    the   principles 


122  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

of  painting  on  china  to  take  up  this  de- 
lightful occupation  on  her  return  to  her 
distant  village  home,  to  the  satisfaction 
at  least  of  herself  and  her  friends. 

The  decoration  of  fans,  now  so  much 
in  vogue,  is  almost  a  branch  by  itself; 
but  it  is  expressly  stated  by  the  Society 
of  Decorative  Art  that  articles  of  this 
nature,  "  to  be  received,  must  in  all  cases 
show  special  excellence  in  the  combina- 
tion of  harmonious  coloring  and  form, 
and  the  appropriateness  of  the  decora- 
tion." Birds,  butterflies,  all  winged  creat- 
ures, are  supposed  to  be  particularly 
suited  to  objects  that  have  such  inti- 
mate relations  with  air — flowers  have 
run  riot  over  them  for  centuries — and 
figures  have  also  been  introduced  with 
less  good  taste,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
device. 

Some  fans  were  beautifully  ornament- 
ed lately  with  pen- etchings,  resembling 


ART  INDUSTRIES.  123 

the  finest  engraving,  by  a  lad}7  whose 
tasteful  fingers  never  seemed  to  make  a 
mistake  in  this  most  delicate  of  under- 
takings. These  dainty  articles  were  in 
great  request  for  Christmas  presents 
among  those  who  could  afford  to  pay 
for  them;  and,  in  one  instance,  the  fan, 
a  very  beautiful  one  of  pale  pink  silk, 
with  pearl  handles,  was  furnished,  and 
twenty  dollars  paid  for  the  work  alone. 
The  artist  confessed  that  she  began  her 
task  with  trembling  fingers,  fearful  of 
spoiling  the  valuable  article  committed  to 
her  care ;  but  courage  came  as  the  work 
progressed,  and  her  labor  was  crowned 
with  even  more  than  its  usual  success. 

Hand- screens,  so  indispensable  since 
open  fires  and  chimney-pieces  have  been 
made  much  of,  also  offer  a  wide  field  for 
decoration  to  those  who  can  handle  the 
artist's  brush;  and  whether  painted  in 
rich  colors,  or  delicately  traced  in  sepia 


124  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

and  India-ink,  they  are  sure  to  be  pretty 
and  ornamental.  Many  of  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  articles  of  this  sort  suggest 
ideas  to  be  partly  adopted  and  improved 
upon. 

Plaques,  either  of  china  or  smooth 
wood,  are  endless  in  design,  and,  when 
well -painted  and  handsomely  mounted, 
make  very  satisfactory  mural  ornaments. 
Very  beautiful  designs  for  plaques  are 
frequently  the  work  of  lady-artists,  and 
prizes  are  sometimes  offered  for  those 
of  superior  merit. 

There  are  many  remunerative  pieces 
of  work  for  those  who  can  produce  pleas- 
ing effects  with  color,  although  unable 
to  attempt  the  higher  walks  of  art — 
dinner-cards,  neckties,  and  even  buttons 
coining  in  for  a  share  of  ornamentation. 
A  lady  lately  painted  a  set  of  the  latter 
for  a  black  silk  dress  with  minute  for- 
get-me-nots ;  and  the  effect,  enhanced  by 


ART  INDUSTRIES.  125 

larger  sprays  of  the  same  flower  at  each 
corner  of  the  vest,  was  extremely  pretty. 

Some  inventive  genius  originated  the 
idea  of  medallion  sets  painted  on  silk  of 
various  colors  over  large  button-moulds : 
necklace,  ear-rings,  brooch,  bracelets,  in 
one  pattern  of  flowers ;  and,  before  they 
were  too  extensively  imitated,  they  were 
thought  very  pretty  and  tasteful.  They 
were  quite  profitable,  too,  to  the  artist, 
as  they  were  quickly  done;  but  they 
have  had  their  day,  and  some  other  small 
invention,  equally  pretty,  would  receive 
as  warm  a  welcome. 

The  painting  of  panels,  for  doors  and 
rooms,  has  become  an  important  indus- 
try, and  brightness  and  beauty  are  fast 
taking  the  place  of  wooden  monotony. 
Ladies  who  are  gifted  in  executing  pret- 
ty and  unique  designs  of  their  own  in- 
vention may  almost  be  said  to  hold  a 
fortune   on   the   tips    of  their    brushes. 


126  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

One  lady,  at  least,  may  be  cited  who,  in 
this  department  of  decorative  art,  has 
always  as  many  engagements  as  she  is 
willing  to  take,  and  at  her  own  price. 

Illustrations  for  books,  if  bright  and 
original,  are  always  in  demand ;  and  in 
writing  for  children,  especially,  pictures 
go  a  great  way.  It  sometimes  happens 
that  two  friends  can  use  together  pen  and 
pencil — one  writing,  and  the  other  illus- 
trating; and,  by  combining  these  talents 
on  the  same  piece  of  work,  better  results 
are  accomplished  than  by  working  sep- 
arately. A  little  sketch,  or  poem,  sent 
to  a  periodical  for  children,  if  accom- 
panied by  an  apt  illustration,  has  nine 
chances  of  acceptance  where  an  equally 
good  article,  without  the  picture,  would 
have  but  one. 

Occasionally,  a  delightful  correspond- 
ent, whose  letters  are  intended  only  for 
the  eyes  of  personal  friends,  will  illus- 


ART   INDUSTRIES.  127 

trate  the  scenes  or  people  she  describes, 
with  a  few  characteristic  strokes,  in  such 
a  life-like  way  that  the  scene  or  person 
is  there  before  the  reader;  and  these 
careless  sketches,  if  published,  would  of- 
ten put  to  shame  the  work  of  popular 
comic  artists. 

This  inimitable  gift,  with  the  usual 
contrariety  of  fortune,  is  usually  bestowed 
upon  those  who  do  not  employ  it,  except 
for  the  amusement  of  themselves  and 
their  friends ;  but  any  one  with  a  ready 
pencil  for  illustration  has  a  direct  way 
to  money-making  close  at  hand. 


128  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 


Chapter  VIII. 

HOUSE-DECORATION. 

Two  English  Ladies. — The  Decorator  of  the  Past. — 
A  New  Field  for  Women  of  Taste  and  Judgment. — 
The  Woman's  Province. — How  to  Begin. — Consci- 
entious Work.  —  A  "House  Beautiful."  —  Farther 
Suggestions. — A  Pair  of  Vases. 

The  domain  of  art  is  wide,  and  offers 
a  variety  of  employment  to  those  who 
understand  it,  not  only  in  creating,  but 
in  selecting  and  disposing  of  the  crea- 
tions of  others. 

The  Misses  Garrett,  of  London,  have 
made  a  large  and  profitable  business  of 
house-decoration  in  painting,  wood- work, 
and  furniture  —  first  fitting  themselves 
for  the  undertaking  by  a  thorough  edu- 
cation in  art,  and  exhibiting  in  their  own 
house,  with  its  admirably  chosen  belong- 


HOUSE-DECORATIOX.  129 

ings,  sufficient  proof  of  their  qualifica- 
tions. The  arrangements  of  this  house 
are  described  by  visitors  to  be  not  only 
uncommonly  beautiful,  but  beautifully 
uncommon.  Of  these  belongings  the 
owners  can  discourse  delightfully  for 
hours  together;  and  they  have  publish- 
ed a  small  book  on  the  subject  of  house- 
decoration. 

Formerly,  people  who  had  money  to 
spend  on  house-furnishing  were  satisfied 
to  give  a  fashionable  upholsterer  carte 
blanche  for  the  furnishing  of  the  new 
house,  with  the  laudable  object  of  mak- 
ing it  look  as  much  as  possible  like 
other  people's.  But  all  that  has  been 
changed,  and  the  furnishing  of  the  pres- 
ent day  aims  at  individuality.  Art,  of 
course,  above  and  beyond  everything, 
say  the  reformers;  but,  after  this,  let 
us  be  original.  To  have  something 
that  one's  neighbors  have  not,  and  are 
9 


130  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

not  likely  to  have,  is  a  positive  happi- 
ness. 

"Until  lately,"  writes  Miss  Garrett, 
"  a  house  -  decorator  (to  all  except  the 
extremely  wealthy)  has  meant  simply  a 
man  who  hangs  paper  and  knows  me- 
chanically how  to  paint  wood.  In  his 
proper  place  he  would  fulfil  the  part 
which  a  dispenser  does  to  a  doctor — he 
should  be  able  faithfully  to  follow  direc- 
tions, and  honestly  to  carry  out  instruc- 
tions ;  and,  as  a  rule,  this  role  he  is  able 
to  fulfil.  But  a  decorator  should  mean 
some  one  who  can  do  more  than  this; 
he  should  be  able  to  design  and  arrange 
all  the  internal  fittings  of  a  house — the 
chimney-pieces,  grates,  and  door-heads,  as 
well  as  the  wall-hangings,  curtains,  car- 
pets, and  furniture.  All  these  it  has 
hitherto  been  customary  to  intrust  to 
different  people,  none  of  whom  has  had 
any   part   in    the    deliberations   of  the 


HOUSE-DECORATION.  131 

other.  The  consequence  of  such  a  dis- 
jointed arrangement  has  been  that,  in 
modern  houses,  one  seldom  finds  a  room 
which  makes  an  harmonious  whole." 

These  ladies  are  themselves  able  to 
meet  all  these  requirements;  but  they 
are  exceptional  cases.  There  is  no  rea- 
son, however,  why  other  ladies  with  an 
equal  amount  of  taste,  even  though  lack- 
in  o;  their  educational  advantages,  should 
not  be  able,  in  some  measure,  to  fill  the 
place  of  the  Misses  Garrett  in  this  coun- 
try. Wealthy  people  in  our  land  of 
changes  are  constantly  furnishing  and 
refurnishing  their  houses;  and  many  of 
them,  having  more  money  than  taste, 
would  gladly  pay  for  the  guidance  of 
a  cultivated  eye  and  a  ready  perception 
of  harmony  and  fitness. 

House  decorative  art  is  one  for  which 
ladies  are  peculiarly  fitted,  but  with 
which  they  have  as  yet  had  little  to  do. 


132  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

"  When  a  house,  the  very  centre  of  a 
woman's  kingdom,  and  the  place  where 
she  spends  most  of  her  time,  is  to  be  fur- 
nished and  decorated,  men  are  called  in 
to  decide  what  hues  shall  prevail,  what 
hangings  and  carpets,  and  other  belong- 
ings, shall  meet  my  lady's  eyes  day 
after  day — often  what  pictures  shall  hang 
upon  her  walls,  what  books  shall  come, 
like  silent  friends,  to  take  up  their  abode 
with  her."  This  is  not  a  man's  business 
at  all,  but  a  woman's ;  and,  if  well-con- 
ducted as  a  business,  it  might  be  made 
very  remunerative. 

A  lady  employed  as  a  house-decorator 
could  present  a  plan  or  general  outline 
of  what  she  proposed  to  do — after  care- 
fully studying  the  capabilities  of  the 
rooms — with  an  estimate  of  cost,  and 
submit  it  to  the  householder.  The  re- 
sult would  probably  prove  satisfac- 
tory  to   both    parties;    and    one    house 


HOUSE-DECORATIOX.  133 

tastefully  furnished  might  be  an  excel- 
lent advertisement  for  future  engage- 
ments. 

The    decorator    should    resemble    the 
worthy  Mrs.  Gilpin  in  having  "  a  frugal 
mind,"  wherever  this  virtue  is  desirable, 
and  a  nice  calculation   of  expenditure; 
so  that  people  of  moderate  means  would 
find  it  more  economical  to  have  the  ben 
efit  of  her  taste  and  judgment  in  furnish 
ing  than  to  take  the  responsibility  them, 
selves.     Since  the  revival  of  the  beauti- 
ful in  ordinary  things  it  is  just  as  impor 
tant  to  furnish  the  simple  cottage  har- 
moniously as  the  more  pretentious  man 
sion ;  and,  as  cottages  are  more  numerous 
than  palaces,  the  decorator  would  often- 
er  be  called  upon  to  spend  $500  than 
$5000 — provided  her  charges  were  rea- 
sonable, and  a  gift  for  making  one  dollar 
do  the  work  of  two  apparent  to  the  dull- 
est comprehension. 


134  MOXEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

The  two  accomplished  English  ladies 
who  have  introduced  such  a  reform  in 
house-decoration  preside  over  a  charm- 
ing establishment,  where  beautiful  ob- 
jects, collected  with  unfailing  taste  and 
judgment,  may  not  only  be  admired  but 
purchased;  and  any  lady  engaging  in 
the  same  occupation  would  find  a  house 
capable  of  unique  adornment  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  this  way.  It  could  be  quietly 
given  out,  among  a  circle  of  friends,  that 

Mrs. 's  rooms  were  charming — quite 

out  of  the  common  order — full  of  pretty 
effects  produced  at  a  moderate  outlay; 
and  one  would  bring  another  to  look 
and  admire — to  buy  a  picture,  perhaps, 
or  the  duplicate  of  a  graceful  hanging 
— and  custom  would  thus  flow  in  by 
degrees,  until  success  was  no  longer 
doubtful. 

A  discreet  amount  of  bric-a-brac  could 
be  taken  on  commission,  and  arranged 


HOUSE-DECOR  ATI0X.  135 

with  taste  among  the  other  furnishings ; 
it  would  show  to  better  advantage,  and 
be  more  salable,  than  in  the  shop  of  the 
dealer.  Lady-artists,  too,  amateurs  "  who 
paint  only  for  amusement,"  wrould  glad- 
ly contribute  some  of  their  best  efforts 

to  the  adornment  of  Mrs. 's  parlors, 

for  she  might,  in  time,  be  able  to  find 
purchasers  for  them. 

The  business  is  one  that  may  be  made 
quite  extensive;  for  tradesmen  and  deal- 
ers of  all  kinds,  desiring  to  bring  their 
goods  into  notice,  would  probably  fur- 
nish samples  of  them  to  be  used   and 

displayed  by  Mrs. .     In  this  way 

the  house  could  be  furnished  with  little 
or  no  expense  to  the  occupant.  With 
responsible  references  as  security,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  make  such  ar- 
rangements; and  private  parties,  who 
wished  to  dispose  of  old  and  handsome 
articles,  would  greatly  prefer  an  oppor- 


136  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

tunity  of  this  kind  to  the  medium  of  the 
auctioneer  or  second-hand  dealer. 

A  lady,  engaged  in  quite  a  different 
occupation,  once  received  a  letter  from  a 
member  of  an  old  Southern  family  ask- 
ing if  she  could  dispose,  on  commission, 
of  a  pair  of  valuable  china  vases  —  an 
heir-loom  from  a  great-great-grandmoth- 
er. The  vases  were  valued  at  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars,  and  from  the  de- 
scription must  have  been  well  worth  it; 
but  the  person  to  whom  the  letter  was 
written  was  obliged  to  decline  the  re- 
sponsibility. The  incident,  however, 
made  quite  an  impression,  and  the  idea 
was  evolved  by  degrees  that,  wTith  the 
vases  as  a  foundation,  a  very  pleasant 
occupation  could  be  organized,  and  one 
that  would  well  repay  all  who  were  en- 
gaged in  it. 


SHOPPING   OX   COMMISSION.  137 


Chapter  IX. 

SHOPPING  OX  COMMISSION.— AGENCIES. 

Attractions  of  Shopping  on  Commission. — Profits  Re- 
ceived.—  Reasons  for  Decline.  —  Comparative  Ad- 
vantages of  New  York  and  other  Places. — Neces- 
sary Qualifications. — Suggestions  for  a  Circular. — 
Advertisements.  —  Shopping  for  Friends.  —  Book 
Agents. — A  City  Lady's  Enterprise. — Characteris- 
tics of  Agents. ^-Encouragement  for  Ladies. — Miss 

G 's  Experience. — The  Catastrophe. — A  Decided 

Contrast.  —  Munificent  Emoluments.  —  Other  Sub- 
scription -  works.  —  An  Agent  by  Proxy.  —  Small 
Wares. — Advantages  of  Knowing  how  to  Work. 

Shopping  on  commission  is,  for  those 
who  succeed  in  it,  an  extremely  profita- 
ble employment;  while  there  is  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  pleasant  excitement  in  re- 
ceiving letters  and  selecting  pretty  arti- 
cles. An  indefinable  charm  seems  to 
lurk  in  the  spending  of  money,  even  if 
it  is  other  people's ;  and  the  shopper  by 


138  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

proxy  enjoys  this  sensation  to  the  fullest 
extent. 

Sometimes  city  residents,  as  well  as 
those  who  live  in  the  country,  are  glad 
to  have  their  shopping  done  for  them, 
as  it  spares  them  much  labor  and  per- 
plexity ;  and  those  who  are  conscious  of 
their  own  deficiencies  in  taste  and  judg- 
ment are  especially  glad  to  avail  them- 
selves of  this  relief.  The  commission 
charged  to  purchasers  is  five  per  cent.; 
and  as  merchants  allow  a  discount  of 
from  six  to  ten  per  cent,  to  shoppers  on 
commission,  this  makes  a  very  handsome 
return  to  those  who  have  a  reasonable 
amount  of  orders. 

A  lady,  who  managed  this  depart- 
ment in  connection  with  her  other  du- 
ties on  a  fashion  periodical,  received  one 
hundred  dollars  a  month  from  this  source 
alone;  but  she  complains  that,  within 
the  last  two  or  three  years,  the  business 


SHOPPING   OX   COMMISSION.  139 

has  fallen  off,  so  that  only  small  and  oc- 
casional orders  are  the  rule  now.  She 
attributes  this  partly  to  the  fact  that  all 
the  dry-goods  houses  will  now  send  sam- 
ples to  the  remotest  ends  of  the  earth ; 
wThile  ready-made  suits  are  so  easy  of 
attainment,  that  the  resident  of  Kam- 
chatka, or  the  Philippine  Islands,  has 
only  to  "send  waist  and  bust  measure, 
length  of  skirt,"  etc.,  to  be  fashionably 
arrayed  in  as  short  a  time  as  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  sewing-machine  and  ocean 
steamer  can  possibly  accomplish  it. 

So  many  persons,  too,  have  lately  en- 
tered into  the  business  of  shopping  on 
commission,  that  scarcely  a  periodical 
of  any  standing  is  to  be  found  without 
one  or  two  advertisements  of  this  nature. 
New  York  is  the  most  desirable  centre 
for  shopping,  and  the  advertisements  are 
almost  invariably  dated  from  thence; 
but,  perhaps  for  this  very  reason,  some 


140  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

other  place,  where  articles  of  a  pecul- 
iar or  unique  description  are  to  be  had, 
would  be  likely  to  attract  customers. 
The  experiment  could,  at  least,  be  tried 
without  involving  much  expense;  but 
all  preliminaries  must  be  carefully  ar- 
ranged. 

The  first  of  these,  perhaps,  is  to  be 
sure  of  one's  own  powers — what  amount 
of  walking,  or  other  fatigue,  can  be  in- 
curred without  injury,  and  also  the  se- 
lection of  a  substitute  in  case  of  emer- 
gency. For  orders  of  this  kind  frequent- 
ly arrive  at  very  mal-a-propos  times,  when 
the  principal  is  either  ill,  or  so  engaged 
with  other  orders  that  it  is  impossible  to 
attend  to  them  at  once.  And  the  at  once 
principle  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
in  this  particular  occupation. 

The  wording  of  an  attractive  circular, 
that  shall  yet  be  so  thoroughly  truthful 
that  no  exception  can  possibly  be  taken 


SHOPPING  OX   COMMISSION.  141 

to  a  single  item,  after  the  arrival  of  exe- 
cuted commissions,  is  a  point  of  no  small 
weight.  It  is  desirable  to  mention  ev- 
erything that  one  purposes  to  do,  and 
yet  to  make  the  circular  rather  compress- 
ed than  expansive;  while  a  judicious 
choice  of  words  and  phrases  will  have 
much  to  do  with  securing  customers  of 
the  best  class.  Half  a  dozen  influential 
names  as  references  are  quite  indispensa- 
ble, as  "  orders  are  in  all  cases  to  be  ac- 
companied by  the  amount  required." 

An  advertisement  which  has  to  be 
paid  for  word  by  word  is  not  in  danger 
of  being  too  lengthy ;  the  great  difficulty 
is  to  say  what  seems  necessary  in  so  very 
confined  a  space.  The  charges  for  ad- 
vertising are  most  unreasonable  in  many 
cases,  and  quite  appal  the  impecunious 
beginner;  but  it  is  the  experience  of 
successful  business  men  that  advertising 
pays.     A  fictitious  name,  if  accepted  by 


142  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

those  who  are  to  be  responsible  for  the 
advertiser's  honesty  and  capability,  may 
be  substituted  for  the  real  one,  and  a 
post-office  address  given  instead  of  the 
residence. 

Some  ladies  have  their  leisure  mo- 
ments profitably  employed  by  shopping 
for  friends  at  a  distance;  and  this  can 
be  done  without  the  aid  of  circulars  or 
advertisements.  It  lightens,  too,  the  la- 
bors and  perplexities  of  those  unfortu- 
nates who,  on  a  hurried  visit  to  the  city 
are  often  obliged  to  waste  much  pre 
cious  time  and  strength,  and  encroach 
upon  limited  trunk  accommodation,  to 
satisfy  the  demands  made  upon  them 
often  by  mere  acquaintances.  The  very 
fact  of  their  going  to  the  city  seems  a 
sufficient  reason  for  their  doing  the  shop- 
ping of  the  community;  and  weary  feet, 
car  fares,  and  loss  of  time  are  never  taken 
into  consideration.      It  would  be  well 


SHOPPING  ON  COMMISSION.  143 

for  those  victims  of  imposition  calmly  to 
announce  their  intention  of  shopping  on 
commission  at  every  visit  to  the  city,  to 
defray  their  expenses  thither;  and,  if 
this  object  were  not  accomplished,  they 
would  certainly  find  themselves  in  pos- 
session of  their  time. 

In  shopping  for  friends  one  has  the 
advantage  of  knowing  their  individual 
tastes  and  needs;  while  the  customers 
have  the  comfort  of  perfect  confidence  in 
the  person  to  whom  they  intrust  their 
money  and  purchases.  When  shopping 
is  executed  with  taste  and  economy,  it 
is  almost  worthy  of  being  called  an  art ; 
and  a  natural  aptitude  is  indispensable 
to  success  in  making  it  an  occupation. 

Among  newspaper  advertisements, 
those  for  agents  of  various  kinds  occupy 
much  space  and  promise  large  pecuniary 
returns,      Book-agents,  in  particular,  for 


144  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

"  the  best  selling  work  ever  known,"  are 
greatly  in  demand;  and  if  the  statements 
could  be  credited,  even  with  a  discount, 
any  one  of  "fair  education  and  pleasing 
address,"  engaging  in  this  occupation, 
might  well  feel  on  the  high  -  road  to 
fortune. 

It  is  not  a  calling  that  commends  it- 
self to  the  shrinking  and  refined ;  and 
yet  in  some  instances  it  has  been  taken 
up,  as  a  temporary  resort,  by  ladies  be- 
longing to  this  class  with  very  fair  suc- 
cess. "  A  hole  may  be  the  accident  of 
a  day,  but  a  darn  is  premeditated  pov- 
erty ;"  and,  acting  upon  this  principle, 
ladies  who  are  in  want  of  money  for 
some  special  purpose  often  prefer  a  short, 
exciting,  perhaps  somewhat  unpleasant, 
experience  of  this  kind  to  a  tedious  ap- 
prenticeship at  teaching,  or  a  more  per- 
manent engagement  in  regular  business. 
This  has,  at  least,  the  advantage  of  being 


AGENCIES.  145 

taken  up  and  dropped  at  pleasure;  it 
needs  no  previous  preparation,  and  very 
little,  if  any,  capital. 

A  story  is  told  of  "  an  educated  New 
York  lady  who  wished  to  earn  a  liveli- 
hood, and,  not  seeing  any  other  way 
open,  she  became  a  book-agent.  She  got 
a  horse  and  buggy,  and  rode  through 
the  country,  and  was  very  successful. 
She  met  with  a  young  lady  who  was 
very  anxious  to  join  her.  They  made  a 
great  deal  of  money,  and  wrote  a  book 
of  their  travels." 

It  is  a  somewhat  unusual  thing  to  see 
an  agent  of  any  kind  who  looks  like  a 
lady  or  a  gentleman,  or  who  is  interest- 
ing in  any  way;  and  for  this  reason, 
doubtless,  they  are  connected  in  the 
public  mind  with  tramps,  and  are  often 
treated  accordingly.  Many  of  them  de- 
serve nothing  better,  as  they  are  pertina- 
cious and  disagreeable  to  an  incredible 
10 


146  MOXEY-MAKLNG    FOR   LADIES. 

extent ;  and  all  the  members  of  the  same 
calling  are  obliged  to  suffer  in  conse- 
quence. 

But  a  lady  who  undertakes  this  occu- 
pation in  a  lady-like  manner  will  seldom 
fail  to  meet  with  respectful  consideration, 
if  not  with  subscribers;  and,  with  the 
right  book  in  the  right  place,  she  can 
also  count  upon  the  latter.  An  account 
of  some  actual  experiences  may  serve  to 
encourage  the  uninitiated  who  contem- 
plate making  a  trial  of  their  powers. 

Miss  G was  a  pretty,  attractive 

girl,  not  at  all  accustomed  to  "  roughing 
it;"  but  she  found  herself  all  at  once 
most  unpleasantly  scant  of  money,  and 
with  an  inconvenient  fondness  for  the 
velvet  and  roses  of  life.  Being  of  an  en- 
terprising turn  of  mind,  and  having  no 
guardians  to  restrain  her,  she  resolved 
to  make  a  new  departure  of  some  kind ; 
and,  on  the  assurance  of  a  respectable 


AGENCIES.  147 

publisher  that  book -agents  really  did 
make  money,  she  invested  a  dollar  or  two 
in  a  prospectus  and  started  forthwith. 

Calling  herself  by  another  name  wThich 
began  with  the  same  letter,  and  bearing 
a  letter  of  recommendation  from  the 
publisher  to  a  minister  in  the  country 
town  which  she  had  chosen  for  her  first 
field  of  labor,  the  young  lady  went,  on 
her  arrival,  to  the  hotel  where  she  had 
been  directed,  and  was  fortunate  enough 
to  find  already  there  the  very  minister 
she  was  in  quest  of.  He  was  a  courte- 
ous gentleman,  and,  taking  Miss  G 's 

cause  up  vigorously,  he  recommended 
her  book  to  the  best  people  in  the  place, 
who,  when  she  called  upon  them,  were 
quite  ready  to  become  subscribers. 

Having  profitably  exhausted  A , 

Miss  G proceeded  to  the  next  town, 

with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  her 
clerical   friend    to    a    brother    minister. 


148  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

This  gentleman  and  his  wife  kindly 
urged  her  to  make  their  house  her  home 
during  her  sojourn  in  the  place,  and  the 
young  lady  gladly  accepted  this  hospita- 
ble invitation,  which  spared  her  from  the 
exposure  and  dreariness  of  a  hotel.  A 
pleasant  fortnight  was  spent  at  the  par- 
sonage, and  eighty  dollars  cleared  in 
money,  besides  a  present  to  her  kind  en- 
tertainers; and,  with  two  or  three  let- 
ters from  these  friends  to  people  of  note 

in  the  neighboring  township,  Miss  G 

resumed  her  travels. 

The  book  she  offered  was  the  biogra- 
phy of  a  prominent  and  popular  charac- 
ter, its  tendency  a  good  one,  and  hence 
it  was  always  endorsed  by  clergymen ; 
while  its  moderate  price  placed  it  with- 
in the  reach  of  almost  every  one.  The 
young  agent  found  a  pleasant  reception 
everywhere,  and  received  constant  invi- 
tations to  dinner  and  tea:  was  extensive- 


AGEXCIES  149 

ly  questioned  in  regard  to  her  motives 
for  embarking  in  such  an  enterprise; 
while  kind,  motherly  women  gave  her  a 
great  deal  of  good  advice. 

She  never  met  with  rudeness  but  once, 
and  that  was  on  a  lonely  country  road ; 
after  that  she  carried  a  pocket-pistol  for 
self-defence ;  and  many  a  well-intention- 
ed man,  passing  the  girlish  figure  that 
tripped  so  gracefully  along,  little  dream- 
ed of  the  deadly  weapon  on  which  her 
hand  rested,  ready  for  immediate  use. 
She  never  did  use  it,  but  it  gave  her  a 
sense  of  protection  to  carry  it. 

After  passing  a  winter  and  spring  in 

her  self  chosen  occupation,  Miss  Gr 

found  herself  in  possession  of  the  com- 
fortable little  sum  of  nine  hundred  doL 
lars.  This  was  doing  far  better  than 
she  could  have  done  in  any  other  wTay, 
and  she  had  enjoyed  some  very  amusing 
experiences;    but,  notwithstanding    her 


150  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

success,  she  decided  to  retire  permanent- 
ly from  business.  During  her  visit  at 
the  parsonage  she  met  a  professional 
gentleman,  who  manifested  an  especial 
interest  in  her;  and,  as  this  interest 
plainly  increased  during  the  winter — be- 
ing expressed  in  the  shape  of  letters  and 
flying  visits  at  the  various  points  where 
the  young  lady  stayed — it  was  finally  re- 
turned, and  ended,  as  such  things  usual- 
ly do,  in  an  engagement.  "  Culminated," 
however,  would  be  a  better  word,  as  the 
interest  has  never  ended  at  all,  after  sev- 
eral years  of  marriage. 

Miss  G 's   trousseau  was   bought 

with  her  earnings  as  book -agent;  and 
she  and  her  husband  have  had  many  a 
laugh  over  her  adventures.  But  he  al- 
ways maintains  that  it  was  a  dangerous 
step  to  travel  under  an  assumed  name, 
as  some  one  who  knew  her  might  have 
appeared  in  the  most  unexpected  place 


AGENCIES.  151 

— people  have  such  a  surprising  faculty 
for  turning  up  where  they  are  least  want- 
ed— and  this  would  have  resulted  most 
unpleasantly.  The  lady  laughingly  in- 
sists, however,  that  as  no  such  person  did 
appear,  she  took  the  wiser  course  in  not 
having  her  real  name  associated  with  the 
role  of  a  book-agent. 

Miss  Thorne  was  an  altogether  differ- 
ent person :  severely  plain,  and  with  an 
aspect  of  always  doing  her  duty,  she  was 
what  some  people  call  "  well  along "  in 
the  vale  of  single  sisterhood.  There  was 
nothing  frivolous  in  her  attire  or  her 
speech,  no  suavity  of  manner,  but  a  style 
of  address  that  was  most  directly  to  the 
purpose.  She  looked  like  just  what  she 
was,  a  plain,  sensible  school-teacher ;  and 
it  was  evident  that  her  success  as  a  book- 
agent  must  depend  entirely  on  the  merits 
of  the  book — there  was  no  personal  mag- 


152  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

netism  about  Miss  Thorne  with  which 
to  draw  subscribers. 

She  was  wonderfully  successful,  and 
that,  too,  with  an  old-fashioned  relig- 
ious work  that  she  carried  year  after 
year,  and  that  never  seemed  to  lose 
its  interest.  But  she  went  bravely 
under  her  own  name — she  was  not  in 
the  least  ashamed  of  it,  because  she 
was  well-known  and  respected;  and 
friends  in  one  place  passed  her  on  to 
friends  of  theirs  in  another.  She  al- 
ways knew  just  where  she  was  going 
to  stay  beforehand ;  and  each  morning 
her  list  of  calls  was  made  out  for  the 
day. 

Miss  Thome's  accounts  showed  that 
she  certainly  cleared  over  $2000  a 
year ;  and  her  avowed  object  of  making 
$10,000  before  retiring  seemed  likely  to 
be  realized.  She  had  an  invalid  sister, 
whom  she  boarded  with  some  friends  in 


AGEXCIES.  153 

the  inland  city  where  she  had  taught 
school;  and  to  buy  a  comfortable  home 
for  this  sister  and  herself  was  the  end 
for  which  she  worked. 

Miss  Thorne  received  the  very  max- 
imum of  percentage  ever  allowed  to 
agents,  the  publishers  of  subscription 
books  being  eager  to  secure  her  services 
upon  almost  any  terms — she  was  so  em- 
inently respectable;  and  people  seemed 
to  feel  at  once  that  her  statements  could 
be  relied  on.  She  never  failed  to  deliv- 
er her  books  at  the  appointed  time;  and 
subscribers  never  failed  to  find  them  all 
that  the  prospectus  represented  them. 
Miss  Thorne  considered  a  substantial, 
well-known  book  the  best  investment 
for  an  agent;  and  she  did  not  approve 
of  carrying  more  than  one  work  at  a 
time.  She  received  fifty  per  cent.,  or 
half  the  price  of  the  volume;  Miss 
G received  forty.     The  latter  is  the 


154  MONEY-MAKIXG    FOR    LADIES. 

ordinary  commission  ;  and  occasionally  it 
is  a  little  less. 

Subscription  books  are  often  publish- 
ed in  numbers ;  but  these  are  more  trou- 
blesome to  deliver,  and  involve  more 
care  and  responsibility,  than  a  single 
volume ;  people,  too,  are  often  suspicious 
of  them,  as  they  have  been  known  to 
give  out  before  the  subject  was  finished. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  so  small  a  sum  of 
money  is  required  at  once  that  the  total 
cost  is  scarcely  felt ;  and  this  makes  them 
quite  popular.  Servant-girls  are  partic- 
ularly addicted  to  this  kind  of  literature. 

When  some  particular  book  or  period- 
ical is  to  be  introduced  into  a  parish  or 
society,  and  a  list  of  names  is  furnished 
belonging  to  people  who  are  sure  to 
want  it,  the  position  of  agent,  for  some 
lady  in  want  of  money,  is  by  no  means 
unpleasant.  Her  subscribers  are  pre- 
pared for  her  visit,  and,  instead  of  regard- 


AGENCIES.  155 

ing  it  as  an  intrusion,  they  are  rather 
disposed  to  feel  grateful  to  her  for 
bringing  them  what  they  desire  to  have. 

Agents  are  employed  for  many  other 
things  besides  books;  but  a  lady  could 
scarcely  undertake  the  sale  of  them  in 
person,  as  it  savors  too  much  of  the  ped- 
dler. Many  articles  of  general  use  meet 
with  a  ready  sale  in  country  villages — 
where,  if  they  are  kept  at  all,  they  are 
generally  of  inferior  quality  at  a  higher 
price. 

A  lady  who  wished  to  dispose  of  some 
small  wares  which,  if  sold,  would  yield 
her  a  good  profit,  went  to  a  village  hotel 
and  en^a^ed  board  for  a  week;  then 
she  requested  the  landlord  to  send  her 
two  or  three  bright  boys  who  were  anx- 
ious to  earn  some  money.  The  boys  ap- 
peared, glowing  with  expectation,  and 
each  one  received  a  box  of  neck-ruffles, 


156  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

to  be  sold  by  the  dozen  at  a  very  mod- 
erate price.  With  many  exhortations  to 
carry  their  burdens  carefully,  they  were 
despatched  in  different  directions;  and, 
before  many  hours  had  elapsed,  each 
boy  had  disposed  of  his  stock  and  want- 
ed another  box.  A  small  percentage  on 
each  dozen  sold  had  roused  their  ener- 
gies to  excitement  pitch ;  and  the  wor- 
thy villagers  seemed  in  danger  of  being 
ruffled  up  to  their  eyes. 

The  work  went  briskly  on  for  a  week ; 
by  that  time  the  neighborhood  for  two 
or  three  miles  around  was  quite  ex- 
hausted, and  it  was  necessary  to  make  a 
change  of  locality.  The  real  agent  had 
passed  her  time  comfortably  in  her  room, 
while  her  subordinates,  like  busy  bees, 
improved  each  shining  hour,  and  did  all 
the  work,  both  parties  being  thoroughly 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  this  arrange- 
ment.    Ruches  and  ruffles  are  particu* 


AGENCIES.  157 

larly  salable  wares  in  country  places; 
they  save  so  much  trouble  in  the  way 
of  collars;  and  other  small  articles  that 
would  do  equally  well  might  be  added 
at  discretion. 

Corsets,  braces,  etc.,  are  frequently  sold 
in  this  way;  also  fancy  soaps  and  per- 
fumery; and  on  articles  of  this  kind  a 
hundred  per  cent,  is  sometimes  given  to 
agents.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  money- 
making  business;  and,  when  proper  as- 
sistants could  be  found,  an  enterprising 
lady  might  make  it  very  profitable,  with- 
out doing  more  than  advancing  the  cap- 
ital and  purchasing  the  goods. 

The  "  directions  "  furnished  to  agents 
are  often  very  comical,  and  of  little  use 
in  the  way  of  guidance.  Those  who 
study  them  most  faithfully,  and  tax  the 
memory  with  them  for  emergencies,  do 
not  acquit  themselves  half  as  successful- 
ly as  do  those  who  follow  their  natural 


158  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

promptings,  and   adapt  their  course  to 
circumstances  as  they  arise. 

A  horse  and  buggy,  with  a  boy  to 
drive,  will  be  found  almost  indispensa- 
ble, in  the  country,  to  the  book-agent, 
and  especially  when  a  number  of  books 
are  to  be  delivered ;  but  these  articles, 
boy  included,  can  generally  be  hired  by 
the  day  or  half-day  for  a  moderate  sum, 
that  does  not  count  in  comparison  with 
the  profits. 


GARDENING  FOR  PROFIT.  159 

Chapter  X. 

GARDEXIXG  FOR  PROFIT. 

Advantages  of  a  Country  Residence. — Value  of  a  Gar- 
den-patch.— What  Has  Been  Done. — "Want  of  En- 
terprise.— A  Small  Garden  Well  Managed. — What 
a  Woman  Might  Do. — Opportunities  in  Fruit-rais- 
ing.— The  Capabilities  of  Currants. — A  Condensed 
Strawberry  Farm. — How  to  Start  and  Manage  it. — ■ 
Quinces  to  the  Front. — Advantages  and  Drawbacks. 
— Fruit-growing  Generally. 

Country  residents  have,  in  man)7  in- 
stances, greater  advantages  than  their 
city  friends  in  the  way  of  opportunities 
for  money-making ;  and  among  the  most 
profitable  rural  and  semi- rural  occupa- 
tions are  the  raising  of  flowers,  vegeta- 
bles, plants  for  medicinal  and  other  pur- 
poses, the  collecting  and  arranging  of 
ferns  and  autumn  leaves  for  ornamental 
uses,  etc. ;  also  the  care  of  bees,  poultry, 
and  other  live  stock. 


160  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

Many  a  careworn  woman,  struggling 
with  her  housework,  and  finding  it  next 
to  impossible  to  make  both  ends  meet, 
has  only  to  look  into  her  garden-patch 
and  see  there  the  foundation  of  a  differ- 
ent order  of  things,  which  might  easily 
be  made  to  culminate  in  an  able-bodied 
Bridget  in  the  kitchen,  a  half-grown  boy 
at  work  outside,  and  the  lady  herself  en- 
gaged in  the  lighter  occupation  of  sorting 
fruit  and  vegetables,  or  tying  up  plants. 
At  another  time  she  might  be  balancing 
her  poultry  accounts,  or  calculating  her 
prospective  honey — not  forgetting  the  de- 
lightful employment  of  the  "  king  in  the 
parlor"  who  was  counting  out  his  money. 

A  popular  writer  relates  the  experi- 
ence of  two  sisters,  who  found  them- 
selves sorely  put  to  it  for  the  means  of 
living,  in  spite  of  owning  a  comfortable 
house  and  garden.  A  wise  friend,  who 
boarded  with  them,  pointed  out  the  gar- 


GARDENING  FOR  PROFIT.  151 

den  as  a  source  of  revenue ;  and,  some- 
what incredulously,  they  adopted  her 
suggestions. 

A  boy  to  keep  the  garden  in  order 
seemed  to  have  come  to  them  naturally 
with  their  other  stock,  and  the  boy  was 
at  once  employed  in  gathering  the  vege- 
tables daily  and  disposing  of  them  in 
the  village.  It  was  already  late  in  the 
summer  when  the  experiment  began, 
and  the  crops  had  been  planted  without 
reference  to  anything  but  home  con- 
sumption, which  prevented  them  from 
being  so  remunerative  as  they  could 
easily  have  been  made.  The  returns 
were,  nevertheless,  very  encouraging,  al- 
most every  day  bringing  a  respectable 
income  from  corn,  beans,  tomatoes,  etc. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that,  in  coun- 
try villages,  people  who  do  not  raise 
their  own  fruit  and  vegetables  really 
suffer  for  want  of  them,  being  obliged  to 
11 


162  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

depend  on  the  travelling  huckster,  or 
the  nearest  town,  for  what  supplies  they 
can  get.  And  yet  how  seldom  any  one 
is  found  with  sufficient  enterprise  to  an- 
ticipate these  needs,  and  raise  fruit  and 
vegetables  purposely  to  supply  them ! 
Even  so  small  a  space  as  half  an  acre, 
if  cultivated  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and 
plauted  with  j)opular  vegetables  for 
family  use,  would  yield  a  fair  return 
in  money,  besides  supplying  the  owner 
with  the  most  healthful  of  summer  food. 

An  account  of  a  small  garden  success- 
fully managed  may  furnish  encourage- 
ment to  those  who  think  they  have  too 
little  land  to  cultivate  for  profit. 

Originally  a  carrot -patch,  part  of  it 
was  then  devoted  to  onions,  and  "  all 
round  the  edge  of  the  onion  bed,"  says 
the  owner,  "planted  with  Wethersfield 
Eed,  I  sowed  parsley  seed,  and,  between 
the  rows  of  Carter's  First  Crop  Pease  we 


GARDENING  FOE  PROFIT.  163 

put  in  dwarf  celery  for  a  second  crop  af- 
ter the  last  hoeing.  Stout  Anselm  work- 
ed the  ground  with  the  horses,  at  the 
time  of  the  carrot  and  other  green  crop 
hoeing,  and  made  the  headlands  of  pota- 
toes. I  procured  strong-rooted  currants 
and  gooseberries,  and  planted  them  in 
rows  wide  enough  apart  for  the  horses 
to  cultivate,  and  grew  every  kind  of 
vegetable  the  first  year,  except  aspar- 
agus. 

"Since  then,  a  bed  of  this  has  been 
made,  and  is  the  most  eagerly  sought 
and  highly  prized  of  them  all.  Two 
rows  of  strawberries,  planted  along  the 
fence,  supply  us  writh  mammoth  Jocund  a 
sufficient  for  preserves  and  a  good  table 
supply ;  while,  by  keeping  our  few  rasp- 
berries cut  back  and  trained  to  a  trellis, 
we  have  the  large  fruit,  and  enjoy  it  bet- 
ter than  any  we  could  buy.  The  early 
Vermont  potato  is  a   superior  variety, 


164  MOXEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

and  we  use  early  and  late  corn  to  pro- 
long the  season. 

"It  is  astonishing  how  small  a  piece 
of  ground  will  supply  a  family,  if  it  is 
properly  enriched,  and  attention  paid  to 
planting  wide,  with  a  view  to  a  second 
crop.  Radishes  among  beets  are  soon 
out  of  the  way ;  so  is  lettuce  among 
carrots ;  and  at  the  same  time  this  prac- 
tice tends  to  keep  the  garden  tidy  and 
free  from  unsightly  rubbish.  I  sowed 
some  of  the  low-growing  annual  flowers 
along  the  sides  of  my  vegetable  beds, 
and  their  bright  bloom  was  always  be- 
fore me  when  gathering  anything  for 
dinner. 

"Turnips,  I  found,  did  well,  even  late, 
between  the  rows  of  ouions,  which  were 
pulled  up  late  in  August  and  laid  to 
dry.  The  turnip-fly  does  not  seem  to 
like  the  smell  of  onions,  and  left  ours 
unmolested.    And  for  the  squashes,  both 


GARDENING   FOR   PROFIT.  1(35 

summer  and  winter,  which  we  grow,  I 
found  diluted  cow- manure  effectual  in 
keeping  off  the  bugs  and  strengthening 
the  plants.  Up  the  side  of  the  house 
grows  a  Delaware  grape-vine  now;  and 
half  a  dozen  damson  plum-trees,  not  far 
off,  supply  us  with  this  choice  preserve. 

"I  keep  the  rubbish  in  the  compost- 
heap  all  winter,  and  make  it  the  place 
for  soap-suds  and  other  good  things ;  and 
when  the  pile  is  removed  in  spring  to 
the  garden,  its  removal  leaves  a  rich 
spot,  where  one  may  safely  drop  a  few 
melon  and  cucumber  seeds ;  and,  if  cov- 
ered with  a  pane  of  glass  placed  over  a 
bottomless  box,  the  melons  ripen  a  week 
earlier  than  in  the  open  air. 

"  Half  a  dozen  tomato-plants  put  into 
a  warm,  dry,  not  too  rich,  corner  supply 
us  for  first  use;  and  a  few  later  plants, 
a  second  crop  for  preserving  and  can- 
ning, may  be  put  in  after  any  of  the 


1(36  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

early  vegetables — spinach,  beets,  or  rad- 
ishes— are  pulled.  Cabbage  and  cauli- 
flower are  grown  in  small  quantities,  the 
trouble  with  the  caterpillar  being  so 
great  that  we  have  to  apply  air-slacked 
lime  several  times;  and  then,  if  the 
plants  chance  to  be  neglected  for  a  few 
days,  Ave  find  the  leaves  are  riddled. 

"In  spite  of  these  drawbacks,  however, 
the  little  garden  was  found  to  be  a  source 
of  real  profit,  as  well  as  pleasure ;  and 
almost  any  other  well -cultivated  plot 
could  be  made  equally  productive.  The 
most  timid  of  women  in  business  enter- 
prises, and  with  neither  man  nor  boy  in 
the  family  to  depend  on  for  help,  might 
venture  to  hire  sufficient  labor  to  put 
her  piece  of  ground  in  order,  and  plant 
it  with  fruit  and  vegetables — confident 
that  she  could  dispose  of  enough,  at  least, 
to  pay  all  expenses  and  keep  her  table 
well   supplied.     This  of  itself  is   some- 


GARDENING   FOR   PROFIT.  1(37 

tiling  to  accomplish;  and  there  would 
be  scarcely  a  doubt  of  her  doing  much 
more." 

There  are  many  small  avenues  of 
profit  connected  with  fruit-raising  that 
seem  to  be  quite  overlooked.  The  reg- 
ular farmer  or  fruit- raiser  considers  them 
too  small  for  his  notice;  and  this  is  just 
where  a  woman,  without  much  to  invest, 
will  find  her  opportunity. 

For  instance,  almost  every  one  wants 
currants,  or  what  may  be  called  the  re- 
sults of  currants ;  they  are  useful  in  so 
many  ways;  and  yet  a  few  straggling 
bushes,  that  receive  little  or  no  atten- 
tion, are  the  only  evidences  of  their  cul- 
tivation in  ordinary  places.  Experience 
proves  that  they  are  comparatively  little 
trouble  to  raise,  and  that  a  good  harvest 
may  be  reaped  from  a  small  outlay. 
While  abundantly  paying  the  cultivator 


158  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

at  three  dollars  a  bushel,  they  are  often 
sold  for  four  dollars. 

There  is  always  a  market  for  currants; 
and  the  fruit  may  be  kept  from  the  de- 
vastating worm  by  dusting  the  bushes 
with  hellebore.  To  keep  it  also  from 
the  early  bird,  which  catches  a  great 
many  things  besides  the  worm,  it  is 
safer  to  plant  the  white  varieties — the 
bright  gleam  of  the  red  fruit  acting  as 
a  signal  for  a  ready-made  feast. 

A  successful  cultivator  advises  plant- 
ing for  profit  the  White  Dutch,  Versail- 
laise,  Cherry,  and  Victoria,  and  says: 
"The  ground  should  be  well-drained,  in 
order  to  prevent  frost -heaving,  as  the 
bush  is  easily  pried  out  when  there  is 
much  freezing  and  thawing,  with  little 
snow.  My  plan  is  to  set  the  bushes  in 
rows  ten  feet  apart,  and  six  feet  in  the 
row.  Between  the  rows  corn  or  any 
hoed  crop  may  be  planted.     In  the  rows 


GARDENING  FOR  PROFIT.  ItfQ 

plant  beans  or  potatoes.  Cultivate  and 
hoe  the  whole  ground.  Always  slightly 
hill  the  currants  at  the  second  or  last 
hoeing. 

"It  is  a  good  plan  to  have  a  patch 
of  gooseberries  near  the  currants.  The 
worms  will  appear  first  on  the  goose- 
berries, and  can  be  promptly  disposed 
of  with  two  dustings  of  hellebore.  They 
will  then  not  appear  to  any  extent,  if  at 
all,  on  the  currants.  It  is  best  to  apply 
the  hellebore  when  there  is  dew  on  the 
bushes." 

An  acre  or  a  half-acre  of  ground  could 
be  made  in  this  way  quite  a  source  of 
profit,  as  a  lady,  besides  disposing  of 
the  fresh  fruit  as  opportunity  offered, 
could  convert  the  remainder  into  jelly 
and  wine  with  still  better  results.  The 
red  currant  is,  in  spite  of  the  birds,  a 
desirable  variety  to  raise  for  manufact- 
uring   purposes,  in    view    of   the    rich 


170  MONEY-MAKING   FOK  LADIES. 

ruby  color  that  makes  the  preserve  at- 
tractive. 

Several  acres  of  currants  would  pro- 
duce a  handsome  yield  in  every  way; 
and  a  lady  would  find  more  remunera- 
tion and  less  care  in  devoting  her  ener- 
gies to  some  particular  item,  for  which 
there  is  a  steady  demand,  than  to  at- 
tempt a  little  of  everything. 

Considering  the  acres  of  strawberries 
already  cultivated  for  marketing  pur- 
poses, and  the  expense  and  risk  attend- 
ant upon  a  large  enterprise  of  this  sort, 
it  might  not  be  wTell  for  a  lady  to  under- 
take it  to  any  extent.  There  is  a  fasci- 
nation about  it,  however,  to  women,  ever 
since  the  time,  some  years  ago,  when 
two  needle -women  published  their  ex- 
perience with  an  acre  of  strawberries, 
plainly  showing  that  the  hoe  was  might- 
ier than  the  needle — the  weeding  and 


GARDEN  IXG  FOR   PROFIT.  171 

picking  of  a  few  weeks  being  rewarded 
tenfold  more  than  the  steady  sewing  of 
an  entire  year. 

If  cows  could  be  made  to  give  cream, 
one  cream  cow  would  pay  better  than 
five  milk  cows;  and  on  this  same  prin- 
ciple a  small  strawberry -patch,  under 
high  cultivation,  would  yield  a  greater 
profit  than  an  acre  worked  in  the  ordi- 
nary way.  This  strawberry-bed  should 
be  under  glass  (or  a  cheap  substitute 
for  it) ;  and  so  little  space  would  be 
really  needed  that  it  might  even  be  lo- 
cated in  a  city  yard.  For  the  distinctive 
feature  of  these  strawberries  w^ould  be, 
not  the  quantity  raised,  but  the  quality, 
and  also  their  being  ready  for  use  some 
time  in  advance  of  the  ordinary  market. 
If  large  and  handsome-looking,  and  ripe 
by  the  first  or  middle  of  April,  they 
could  be  disposed  of  at  a  high  price  to 
confectioners  and  private  purchasers. 


172  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

Where  there  is  a  strawberry -bed  al- 
ready planted,  a  portion  can  be  selected 
as  free  from  weeds  as  possible,  and  with 
all  the  plants  young  and  healthy.  A 
good  coat  of  short,  unfermented  manure 
or  droppings  will  greatly  hasten  the  ri- 
pening of  the  fruit,  besides  increasing 
the  yield ;  'and  the  plants  should  then 
be  protected  with  a  sash.  On  very  cold 
nights  sash  and  bed  should  be  covered 
with  straw,  old  hay,  or  mats,  to  keep  off 
the  frost. 

For  the  berries,  Triomphe  and  Jocun- 
da,  planted  in  alternating  hills  in  the 
same  row,  will  be  most  satisfactory. 

A  bed  may  also  be  started  by  layer- 
ing, from  June  till  September,  early  and 
strong  runners  in  small  pots — when 
well-rooted  to  be  transplanted  to  larger 
pots,  and  the  soil  so  arranged  as  to  make 
them  growT  most  vigorously  in  the  au- 
tumn.    The  soil  for  the  bed  should  be 


GARDENING  FOR  PROFIT.  173 

very  rich,  but  need  not  be  more  than  six 
or  eight  inches  deep;  and  the  plants 
must  be  knocked  very  carefully  out  of 
the  pots,  not  to  disturb  the  roots,  and 
set  in  the  ground  at  the  rate  of  about 
four  to  every  square  foot.  The  glass 
should  then  be  put  on,  and  great  care 
taken  to  air  properly  in  cold  weather. 
The  plants  will  also  require  an  occasion- 
al watering,  unless  there  are  plenty  of 
warm  rains  in  February  and  March, 
during  which  the  sash  can  be  opened. 

A  very  moderate  piece  of  ground, 
scarcely  more  in  size  than  a  long,  narrow 
flower-bed,  treated  in  this  way,  and  filled 
with  the  prepared  plants  about  the  mid- 
dle of  January,  will  produce  a  great 
many  quarts  of  very  fine  berries  by  the 
first  of  April;  and  fresh  strawberries  at 
this  season  have  been  sold  as  high  as 
five  dollars  a  quart. 

The   strawberry   experiment,  on   this 


174  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

bigh  culture  plan,  is  certainly  worth 
trying. 

The  quince  is  a  neglected  fruit  that 
seems  to  offer  large  possibilities  to  the 
patient  cultivator;  and  the  convenient 
size  of  its  low,  spreading  trees — mere 
bushes,  in  fact — renders  it  an  easy  sub- 
ject for  a  lady  to  undertake.  Indepen- 
dently of  its  fruit,  it  is  a  pretty  shrub,  not 
half  appreciated,  with  velvety -petaled 
blossoms  of  the  palest  pink,  as  becomes 
a  member  of  the  rose  family,  to  which  it 
belongs;  and,  even  if  not  useful,  it  might 
justly  be  regarded  as  ornamental. 

But  who  has  not  a  weakness  for 
quince  preserves,  when  properly  made? 
For  marmalade,  jelly,  and  crystallized 
quarters  of  the  fruit,  and  baked  quinces  ? 
These  condiments,  or  confections,  are  al- 
ways appreciated  to  the  fullest  extent; 
yet  the  market  supply  of  quinces  is 
small,  and  almost   any  other  fruit-bear- 


GARDENING  FOR   PROFIT.  175 

ing  tree  seems  more  popular  with  the 
growers  of  fruit. 

If  the  quince  were  a  tree  of  wayward 
and  perverse  inclinations,  repaying  with 
base  ingratitude  the  cultivation  bestowed 
on  it,  and  showing  "  nothing  but  leaves  " 
in  time  of  fruit,  this  state  of  things  would 
be  easily  explained ;  but  no  fruit  im- 
proves more  under  culture,  or  makes  a 
better  return  for  the  time  and  care  be- 
stowed upon  it.  "While  the  visitor  at 
agricultural  and  horticultural  fairs,"  says 
some  one,  "may  see  large  and  varied 
collections  of  the  best  apples,  pears, 
peaches,  grapes,  and  other  fruits,  the  col- 
lections of  quinces  are,  in  the  majority 
of  instances,  confined  to  a  few  plates 
stored  away  on  the  back  shelf,  or  in 
some  out-of-the-way  corner,  where  they 
are  seen  by  but  few  others  than  the 
judges,  and  sometimes  hardly  by  them. 
This   indicates    that   fruit-growers    and 


176  MONEY-MAKIXG  FOR  LADIES. 

owners  of  orchards  generally  give  but 
little  attention  to  its  cultivation;  and 
that  people  at  large  do  not  appreciate 
it  to  the  degree  it  deserves." 

Perhaps  people  at  large  would  appre- 
ciate it  if  it  were  properly  cultivated 
and  presented  to  their  notice;  and  this 
is  one  of  the  departments  of  horticulture 
which  an  enterprising  woman  might  en- 
gage in  with  the  most  encouraging  re- 
sults. She  could  have  a  quince  orchard, 
whether  large  or  small;  and  she  might 
find  it  more  profitable  to  send  out  her 
fruit  in  the  shape  of  preserves  than  to 
supply  the  raw  material.  Even  the  few, 
straggling,  neglected  trees  in  the  ordina- 
ry garden  will  repay  scraping  and  cleans- 
ing and  thorough  cultivation. 

The  insect  pests,  from  which  the  quince 
suffers,  can  generally  be  disposed  of  by 
applying  a  strong  solution  of  soap-suds 
to  the  trunk  and  larger  branches  early 


GARDENING   FOR   PROFIT.  177 

in  the  spring,  and  several  times  during 
the  summer.  The  borer,  if  still  aggres- 
sive, may  be  exterminated  by  watching 
for  the  appearance  of  sawdust  on  the 
ground  near  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  and 
when  found,  punching  wire  into  its  hole, 
or  carefully  cutting  it  out.  If  the  trees 
are  thoroughly  examined  iu  September 
the  borer's  life  may  be  cut  short  in  its 
youth. 

The  business  of  fruit-growing  is  one 
that  has  been  successfully  managed 
by  ladies,  who  have  found  health  and 
strength  as  well  as  profit  in  their  calling ; 
but  there  is  still  abundant  room  for  fresh 
enterprise,  if  directed  to  some  special 
quarter  which  has  not  yet  been  the  ob- 
ject of  general  attention.  And  this  is 
an  important  element  of  success  in  al- 
most any  business  undertaking. 
12 


178  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 


Chapter  XL 

AMONG  THE  FLOWERS. 

Scarcity  of  Women  Florists. — First  Steps. — Building 
a  •  Greenhouse.  —  Economical  Plans.  —  Variety  not 
Desirable. — A  Rose  Garden  under  Glass. — Extermi- 
nating Insects.  —  Heliotrope.  —  A  Market  for  Cut 
Flowers. — Ferns,  Autumn  Leaves,  Grasses,  etc. — A 
Corner  Ornament. 

That  there  should  be  so  few  women 
florists  is  often  a  subject  of  comment,  as 
the  care  of  flowers  seems  a  calling  pecul- 
iarly adapted  to  those  who  are  supposed 
to  have  a  natural  love  for  the  beautiful. 
Women  will  often  cherish  a  few  plants 
under  endless  household  difficulties,  but 
how  seldom  a  man  ever  troubles  himself 
about  anything  so  unpractical !  Yet  the 
florists  are  almost  invariably  men,  en- 
gaged in  a  business  which  women  could 
conduct  as  well,  or  better. 


AMONG  THE  FLOWERS.  179 

Perhaps  the  question  will  come,  Why 
don't  they  try  it,  then  ?  and  an  answer 
may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  class 
of  men  who  become  florists  is  an  entirely 
different  one  from  the  class  of  women 
who  would  be  attracted  to  the  occupa- 
tion. The  men  usually  begin  as  work- 
ing gardeners,  attaining  by  degrees  the 
height  of  their  ambition — to  "set  up" 
for  themselves — and  from  long  intimacy 
with  work,  not  being  in  the  least  afraid 
of  it,  they  are  armed  for  all  emergencies. 
They  have  also  accumulated  capital  by 
degrees ;  while  the  lady  begins  as  a  lady, 
hemmed  in  by  conventionalities  and  crip- 
pled by  want  of  capital. 

"  Yes,"  responds  Ysolte,  "  that  is  exact- 
ly my  case ;  how  do  you  advise  me  to 
set  about  becoming  a  florist  V 

For  a  first  step,  perhaps,  the  most 
sensible  proceeding  would  be  to  visit 
some  successful  gardener  and  ask  his  ad- 


180  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

vice.  If  benevolently  disposed  (and  peo- 
ple usually  are  in  such  cases),  he  will 
give  *all  necessary  information,  and  state 
his  opinion  on  the  chances  of  success  in 
any  particular  locality.  A  very  good 
idea  of  the  expenses  and  disappoint- 
ments attendant  upon  the  raising  of 
flowers,  and  the  profits  to  be  expected 
from  their  sale,  may  be  obtained  from 
him ;  but  he  will  say  at  once  that  a 
florist,  to  continue  the  business  through- 
out the  year,  must  build  a  greenhouse. 

He  will  also  say  that  this,  with  proper 
heating  apparatus,  costs  from  $1000  to 
$1500,  which  will  decide  you  at  once  to 
give  up  all  idea  of  undertaking  it. 

Do  nothing  of  the  kind ;  but  measure 
off  your  ground,  engage  your  carpenter, 
and  go  in  quest  of  a  sash  and  blind  fac- 
tory. Here  you  may  purchase  second- 
hand sashes  for  half  or  one-third  the  cost 
of  new  ones ;  and  you  will  find  these  ar- 


AM0XG   THE   FLOWERS.  181 

tides  the  most  expensive  part  of  your 
greenhouse. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  green- 
houses, both  in  appearance  and  cost.  If 
of  the  "lean-to"  order — which  means 
having  but  one  sloping  glass  roof,  facing 
the  south,  and  with  covered  sheds  on  the 
north  side  —  the  cost  will  be  compara- 
tively small ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  more 
sunshine  the  more  flowers. 

"  Well,  ma'am,"  said  a  worthy  garden- 
er, "  they  don't  cost  much,  if  ye  builds 
'em  cheap.  I  gets  a  carpenter  to  build 
mine,  and  has  'em  made  kinder  rough 
and  cheap.  They  don't  last  as  long,  not 
more'n  six  years,  but  they  does  grow  the 
flowers.  I  generally  calculates  to  pay 
for  'em  in  two  years,  and  when  they 
tumbles  down  I  builds  another." 

This  would  be  the  best  kind  for  a 
lady's  venture,  and  if  she  could  have  the 
work  done  at  a  season  wrhen  carpenters, 


182  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

instead  of  being  driven,  are  usually  glad 
of  a  job,  it  would  cost  still  less.  A  long, 
low  building  is  better  than  a  high  one, 
as  it  is  more  convenient  for  handling  the 
plants,  besides  insuring  more  sunshine. 
The  size  of  the  greenhouse  would,  of 
course,  depend  on  the  amount  and  vari- 
ety of  stock  to  be  accommodated  in  it; 
and,  in  this  particular,  the  advice  of  a 
practical  florist  is  highly  desirable. 

The  great  fault  of  amateur  greenhouse 
experiments  is  an  ambition  to  raise  all 
kinds  of  flowers  in  one  small  space;  and, 
when  the  greenhouse  is  built  for  profit, 
this  is  a  certain  cause  of  failure.  To  se- 
lect one  kind  of  flower  alone,  and  con- 
centrate all  the  arrangements  on  devel- 
oping it  to  the  highest  degree  of  perfec- 
tion of  which  it  is  capable,  would  yield 
better  returns  and  save  much  care  and 
distraction  of  thought. 

There  can  never  be  too  many  roses. 


AMONG  THE  FLOWERS.  183 

They  are  called  for  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  will  bring  a  good  profit  to 
the  grower  at  the  lowest  market  prices ; 
when  selling  at  their  best  they  are  the 
most  desirable  of  commodities.  There 
is  something  particularly  attractive  in 
the  idea  of  a  rose  house,  which  seems 
quite  beyond  an  ordinary  greenhouse; 
and  a  lady  could  manage  such  an  under- 
taking not  only  with  profit  but  with 
pleasure. 

The  best  way  of  carrying  out  such  a 
plan  would  be  to  have  a  rose  garden 
arranged  for  summer,  and  covered  with 
glass  at  the  approach  of  cold  weather. 
Having  the  roses  planted  in  beds  instead 
of  pots  reduces  the  labor  of  cultivation, 
saves  the  expense  of  pots,  and  seems  to 
agree  better  with  the  plants.  Two  of 
the  loveliest  and  most  profitable  roses  for 
this  purpose  are  the  Sofrano  and  Bon 
Silene;   the  Sofrano  being  in  demand 


184  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

both  for  funeral  and  wedding  orders, 
while  the  Bon  Silene  is  equally  popular 
for  its  brilliant  color  and  delicate  fra- 
grance. Both  yield  an  abundance  of 
bloom. 

Care  and  thorough  fumigation  with 
leaf  tobacco,  of  the  poorest  and  cheapest 
kind,  will  effectually  disperse  the  greedy 
insects  that  make  rose  life  miserable  and 
exhaust  the  patience  of  the  much-tried 
florist.  Sprinkling  with  fine  Scotch 
snuff  will  often  kill  small  insects,  and 
this  remedy  is  less  troublesome  than 
smoking.  "With  perseverance  in  routing 
these  active  enemies,  a  rich  soil,  neither 
wet  nor  dry,  and  abundant  sunshine, 
success  in  rose  cultivation  seems  assured. 

The  heliotrope  requires  the  same  con- 
ditions and  treatment  as  the  rose;  and, 
as  it  is  a  constant  bloomer  and  much 
in  demand  for  its  delicious  fragrance,  a 
number  of  plants  could  be  cared  for  in 


AMONG   THE   FLOWERS.  185 

the  rose  house  with  very  little  more 
trouble.  Roses  and  heliotropes  together 
would  provide  a  constant  succession  of 
bloom,  and  a  very  comfortable  income 
for  the  cultivator. 

The  object  of  the  little  greenhouse 
here  described  is  to  raise  flowers  for  city 
emporiums,  which  can,  within  an  ordi- 
nary distance,  easily  be  sent  in  boxes, 
and  look  as  fresh,  with  skilful  packing, 
as  though  gathered  from  plants  close  at 
hand.  The  lady  among  her  roses  at 
home  has  nothing  farther  to  do  with 
their  sale,  except  to  receive  a  handsome 
remuneration  for  labor  that  is  in  itself 
a  pleasure. 

In  connection  with  the  little  green- 
house may  be  carried  on  another  pleas- 
ant and  profitable  occupation — that  of 
collecting  and  preparing  ferns,  autumn- 
leaves,  vines,  mosses,  etc.,  for  winter  dec- 
oration. 


186  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

The  most  successful  locality  for  either 
of  these  employments  would  be  in  or 
near  a  large  town  rather  than  a  city,  as 
the  former  would  afford  a  better  market 
with  less  competition.  All  the  bright- 
colored  leaves,  the  various  native  ferns, 
some  wild  vines,  mosses,  and  even  flow- 
ers, if  prepared  so  skilfully  as  to  retain 
their  beauty  at  least  through  one  season, 
are  quite  in  demand ;  and  while  many 
enjoy  gathering  and  preserving  them  for 
themselves,  others  do  not  have  the  same 
opportunity,  or  are  disinclined  to  take 
the  trouble. 

Great  care  and  deftness  and  taste  are 
all  required  to  bring  this  work  to  per- 
fection ;  and  only  by  doing  it  in  the 
most  thorough  manner,  that  will  pre- 
serve the  brightness  and  beauty  of  these 
natural  ornaments,  without  making  them 
look  in  the  least  artificial,  can  any  degree 
of    remunerative    success    be    attained. 


AMOXG  THE  FLOWERS.  187 

Originality  and  durability  of  treatment 
will  meet  with  a  just  reward ;  and  to 
avoid  all  appearance  of  stiffness  in  tilings 
from  which  all  life  has  been  pressed  out 
is  the  triumph  of  skill. 

A  tall,  gracefully-shaped  vase — which, 
for  this  purpose,  could  be  painted  a  dull 
Indian-red,  or  have  cambric  of  this  color 
drawn  tightly  over  it — filled  with  plumes 
of  feather-grass,  cat-tails,  thistle-pompons, 
milk-weed-pods,  and  seed-vessels  of  va- 
rious kinds,  artistically  mingled  with 
ferns,  bright  leaves,  and  vines,  would  be 
a  very  simple  corner  ornament,  and  yet 
a  very  salable  one.  The  vase  should  be 
large  enough  to  stand  on  the  floor,  while 
its  contents  should  reach  half  way  to  the 
ceiling. 

This  is  only  one  of  many  suggestions 
that  might  be  made ;  for  the  capabilities 
of  leaves,  ferns,  etc.,  are  infinite. 


188  MONEY-MAKING   FOR    LADIES. 


Chapter  XII. 

BEES    AND    POULTRY. 

Recommendations  of  Bee-culture. — Profit  in  Keeping 
Bees.— A  Lady's  Testimony.— Two  Western  Girls. 
— How  to  Prevent  Stinging. — "How  am  I  to  Be- 
gin ?" — Swarming  Prevented. — Wintering  Bees.— 
Making  Honey  from  Sugar. — Pink  Honey. — Profits 
from  Hens. — Accommodation  for  Poultry. — Gener- 
al Care. — A  Frenchwoman's  Experience. — Roses  and 
Honeysuckles. — French  Soil. — Horse-flesh  as  Food. 
— Artificial  Hatching. — The  Barn-yard  Fowl. — A 
Paying  Business.  —  Rules  for  Successful  Poultry- 
raising. — Spring  Chickens. — Pigeons. — Proper  Shel- 
ter.— Dutchies,  or  Common  Runts,  most  Profitable. 
— A  Flock  of  Turkeys. — Causes  of  Failure. — Deli- 
cacy of  Young  Turkeys. — Carefulness  in  Feeding. 
— Ducks  and  Geese. 

The  culture  of  bees  seems  to  accord 
naturally  with  the  culture  of  flowers; 
and,  in  connection  with  a  garden,  it  is  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  to  raise  bees. 


BEES  AXD  POULTRY.  189 

They  take  up  little  room,  generally 
"find"  and  take  care  of  themselves,  and 
have  not,  like  poultry,  a  morbid  appe- 
tite for  seeds  and  summer  vegetables. 
Bee-raising  particularly  commends  itself 
to  ladies,  because  there  is  so  little  labor 
involved  in  it;  it  is  like  having  a  colony 
of  small  slaves  at  work,  while  the  own- 
er is  occupied  with  other  things,  or  en- 
joying the  sweet  do  -  nothingness  that 
comes  of  accomplished  tasks  or  abundant 
means. 

That  bees  are  a  great  source  of  profit 
abundant  experience  proves;  and,  as 
they  do  not  require  private  acres  for 
promenading,  they  may  be  kept  to  ad- 
vantage even  in  the  city.  But  they  are 
never  found  there;  and,  even  in  the 
country,  it  is  very  rare  to  find  a  lady  en- 
gaged in  keeping  them  to  any  extent. 
And  yet  they  are  the  best  paying  in- 
vestment in  live  stock  that  can  possibly 


190  MONEY-MAKING    FOR   LADIES. 

be  made  as  an  incidental  occupation, 
which  is  just  the  subject  in  question- 
affording  large  returns  for  a  moderate 
outlay,  and  involving  very  little  after- 
expense. 

It  is  stated  in  an  agricultural  report 
that  a  lady  bought  four  hives  for  $10, 
and  in  five  years  she  was  offered  $1500 
for  her  stock,  and  refused  it  as  not  enough. 
In  addition  to  this  increase  in  her  capi- 
tal, in  one  of  these  five  years  she  sold 
twenty-two  hives  and  four  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds  of  honey.  On  the  strength 
of  this,  the  writer  declares  that  almost 
any  woman  in  the  city,  as  well  as  in  the 
country,  can  manage  bees,  and  make  more 
profit  than  in  any  other  employment  re- 
quiring so  little  time  and  labor, 

Two  girls  in  Michigan  are  said  to  be 
successfully  engaged  in  bee  -  keeping ; 
they  have  fifty  swarms  of  bees,  and  have 
sent  recently  to  market  eleven  thousand 


BEES  AND   POULTRY.  191 

pounds  of  honey,  worth  $3000.  Here, 
adds  the  narrator,  is  a  new  employment 
for  many  girls,  who  could  make  a  good 
living  in  this  business. 

The  most  serious  objections  to  bees 
are  stinging  and  swarming;  but,  in  re- 
gard to  the  former,  Italian  bees,  which 
are  the  most  profitable  and  desirable  in 
every  way,  are  said  also  to  be  amiable, 
and  not  at  all  disposed  to  sting.  Be- 
sides, a  French  scientific  journal  has  pub- 
lished "  a  safe  and  convenient  method " 
of  getting  the  honey  from  the  hives. 
A  quarter  of  an  ounce  of  chloroform  is 
poured  upon  a  handkerchief,  which  is 
laid  on  a  plate  resting  upon  a  sheet  or 
table-cover  spread  on  the  ground.  An 
iron  gauze  sieve  is  then  laid  upon  the 
sheet  over  the  plate.  The  hive  is  care- 
fully lifted  from  the  bench  and  set  upon 
the  sieve;  the  sheet  is  drawn  closely 
around  the  hive,  to  enclose  the  fumes  of 


102  MONEY-MAKING   FO..  LADIES. 

the  chloroform.  A  loud  buzzing  ensues, 
to  which  succeeds  perfect  silence.  Then 
the  hive  may  be  lifted,  when  the  bees 
are  found  insensible,  lying  upon  the 
sieve.  The  robbery  is  then  proceeded 
w7ith,  the  hive  replaced,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  bees,  revived  by  the  air  and 
sunshine,  return  to  their  hive  and  their 
labor  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

"  But  how  am  I  to  begin  V  asks  the 
bewildered  reader;  "what  is  done  first? 
I  never  was  near  a  hive  of  bees  in  my 
life !" 

The  best  beginning  is  to  read  some  ex- 
cellent work  on  the  subject,  like  Quim- 
by's  "Mysteries  of  Bee-keeping;'1  then 
to  follow  some  very  practical  instruc- 
tions. "  Get  from  one  to  four  hives,  ac- 
cording to  your  honey  field  and  faith ; 
take  them  to  a  bee-keeper,  who  will  place 
a  good  first  swarm  in  each  hive,  and  re- 
move them  home.     Or,  if  the   seller  is 


BEES  AXD   POULTRY.  193 

pleased  to  let  them  stand  till  fall,  place 
boxes  on  them  and  let  them  stand  till 
then.  At  the  proper  time  in  the  fall 
remove  the  boxes,  and  take  all  home. 
With  hives  so  constructed  as  to  prevent 
the  disposition  to  swarm,  and  the  num- 
ber limited  to  the  capacity  of  the  field, 
they  would  sometimes  yield  honey  to 
the  amount  of  two  hundred  pounds  a 
hive  in  one  season.  On  this  plan  there 
is  little  to  do  but  to  place  and  remove 
the  boxes  at  the  proper  time.  If  the 
hive  is  so  constructed  as  to  give  ample 
room  in  the  breeding  and  wintering  apart- 
ment, feeding  is  rendered  unnecessary. 

If  proper  means  are  used  to  give  room 
in  the  surplus  boxes  for  all  the  colony 
the  whole  season,  before  any  preparation 
is  made  for  swarming,  and  the  hives  are 
effectually  shaded  from  the  sun,  no  watch- 
ing for  swarms  will  be  required,  and  no 
time  necessarily  devoted  to  them  but  to 
13 


194  MONEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

put  on  the  surplus  boxes  in  season  and 
remove  them  when  full;  and  this  may 
be  done  by  a  neighbor  accustomed  to 
the  business,  if  one  is  apprehensive  of 
danger  in  performing  these  or  an}'  other 
operations  about  the  hive." 

This  removes  the  second  objection  to 
bee-keeping,  and  reduces  it  to  a  very 
simple  affair.  These  busy  insects,  how- 
ever, are  quite  fastidious  about  their  sur- 
roundings, and  do  not  like  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun.  An  orchard  seems  to 
furnish  the  right  degree  of  shade,  and  a 
bee-keeper  says  that  the  best  success 
he  has  ever  known  with  bees  has  been 
in  orchards  and  shaded  door-yards.  In 
point  of  situation,  elevated  ground  is 
better  than  a  low  place  or  valley. 

Wintering  bees  is  a  far  more  serious 
matter  than  summering  them,  as  swarms 
not  properly  cared  for  come  out  in  the 
spring  in  a  weak  and  dying  condition. 


BEES  AXD   POULTRY.  195 

The  difficulty  often  arises  where  to  win- 
ter them:  out- of- doors,  or  in — above- 
ground,  or  down  in  the  cellar.  They  re- 
quire an  even  temperature  of  about  for- 
ty degrees,  and  this  is  thought  by  the 
most  successful  bee-keepers  to  be  best 
attained  by  cellar -wintering.  "Others 
prefer  out-door  wintering,  in  which  the 
bees  are  kept  either  in  a  so-called  chaff 
hive,  which  has  double  walls,  from  four  to 
eight  inches  apart,  with  the  intervening 
space  filled  with  chaff;  or  else  the  ordi- 
nary hives  are  surrounded  by  boards  or 
a  box,  and  the  space  between,  which 
should  be  a  foot  wide,  is  filled  with  chaff 
or  straw.  In  both  cases  the  arrange- 
ments are  such  that  the  bees  can  fly 
whenever  the  weather  is  warm  enough 
to  induce  flight." 

Making  honey  from  sugar  has  been 
successfully  tried :  fifteen  pounds  of 
white   sugar  being   made  into  a   sirup 


196  MONEY-MAKING  FOK    LADIES. 

and  fed  to  one  of  the  experimenter's 
best  stocks.  The  sugar  was  dissolved 
in  little  more  than  a  pound  of  warm  wa- 
ter. From  a  hole  in  the  back  part  of  the 
hive  the  bees  entered  into  a  tight  box, 
and  into  this  box  the  sirup  was  poured, 
covered  with  a  thin  board  perforated 
with  small  holes,  through  which  the 
bees  could  take  up  the  sirup,  and  the 
board  would  settle  down  as  the  supply 
was  exhausted.  Over  the  box  was 
placed  a  pane  of  glass,  in  order  to  watch 
the  operations  of  the  bees,  and  know 
when  they  required  more  sirup. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  experiment 
the  box  on  the  top  of  the  hive  had  one 
small  comb,  but  it  was  empty.  The 
sugar  was  dissolved  as  the  bees  needed 
it,  and  they  took  it  up  so  fast  that,  at 
the  end  of  twenty  days,  the  fifteen 
pounds  had  disappeared.  There  were 
twenty  pounds  of  honey  though  in  place 


BEES  AXD   POULTKY.  197 

of  it,  and  this  was  sold  for  thirty  cents 
a  pound.  The  sugar  cost  $1  80,  and  the 
honey  brought  $6  00 — the  profit  all  be- 
ing the  result  of  bee-labor  in  the  short 
space  of  three  weeks. 

The  speculator  adds :  "  The  honey  was 
most  excellent,  and  I  believe  no  one  could 
have  told  the  difference  between  it  and 
the  wild -flower  honey.  I  shall  try  it 
again  next  fall,  and  I  will  flavor  the 
sirup  with  a  little  tea,  which  I  shall 
make  from  white  clover- heads,  and  also 
add  a  little  brandy,  of  which  the  bees 
are  very  fond." 

A  lady  could  make  her  honey  very  at- 
tractive by  putting  it  up  in  some  novel 
and  tasteful  way,  and  a  beautiful  pink 
tint  may  be  imparted  to  it  by  giving 
the  bees  a  little  cochineal.  As  an  orna- 
mental dish  for  the  table,  in  a  handsome 
glass  receptacle,  it  is  unsurpassed ;  and 
a  wreath  of  clover  blossoms  and  leaves 


198  MOXEY-MAKING  FOR   LADIES. 

around  the  edge  would  be  both  pretty 
and  suggestive. 

A  lady  in  Massachusetts  has  found  it 
profitable  to  keep  hens.  Beginning  with 
about  sixty  fowls  in  the  spring,  she 
raised  from  these  four  hundred  and  fifty 
chickens.  During  the  season  she  sold 
$90  worth  of  eggs,  and  from  the  last 
of  September  to  the  last  of  January  she 
sent  to  market  a  hundred  and  fifty  pairs 
of  chickens,  which  brought  $260 — mak- 
ing $350  in  all. 

A  Pennsylvania  farmer  sold  from 
thirty  hens,  in  one  year,  eggs  and  chick- 
ens amounting  to  $430  78.  The  cost 
of  feed  and  commissions  for  selling 
came  to  $161  84 — leaving  a  net  profit 
of  $268  94.  Another  farmer  acknowl- 
edged that  "  he  had  sold  eggs  as  low  as 
ten  cents  a  dozen,  and  made  money  on 
'em  at  that." 


BEES   AXD   POULTRY.  199 

"Few  people,"  writes  a  poultry -keep- 
er, "  think  it  worth  while  to  spend  mon- 
ey in  furnishing  suitable  accommoda- 
tions for  their  hens,  or  time  in  looking 
after  them.  In  too  many  cases  among 
farmers  the  fowls  are  obliged  to  find 
their  own  accommodations,  and  have  to 
put  up  with  what  happens  to  offer, 
whether  comfortable  or  not.  Where 
fowls  have  to  resort  to  trees,  fences, 
carts,  pig-pens,  wood-pile,  or  what  not,  for 
roosts,  they  have  not  suitable  accommo- 
dations; when  they  have  to  make  their 
nests  in  hay-mows,  under  stacks,  in  the 
weeds,  or  other  out-of-the-way  places, 
they  are  not  treated  as  they  should  be. 
When  the  feeding  is  irregular  and  spas- 
modic, sometimes  too  much,  at  other 
times  too  little ;  when  the  water  supply 
is  furnished  for  the  most  part  only  when 
it  rains,  or  by  stagnant  pools  or  ditches, 
the  owner  is  inviting  cholera  and  other 


200  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

diseases.  Poultry  kept  in  this  way  will 
not  be  profitable ;  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  any  other  kind  of  stock.  There 
is  more  clear  profit,  however,  to  be  de- 
rived from  a  well-bred  flock  of  poultry, 
when  systematically  looked  after,  than 
from  any  investment  of  an  equal  extent 
in  the  whole  line  of  legitimate  hus- 
bandry." 

A  story  is  told  of  the  experience  of  a 
French  woman  who  was  left  a  widow  in 
very  straitened  circumstances,  w7ith  four 
children  to  educate  and  provide  for. 
All  her  attempts  so  far  to  improve  her 
fortunes  had  failed,  to  her  utter  discour- 
agement. Happening  to  stop  one  day 
at  a  small  town  where  an  agricultural 
fair  was  in  progress,  she  followed  the 
crowd,  and  became  very  much  inter- 
ested in  what  she  saw.  Wandering 
to  the  poultry  enclosure,  she  was  soon 
•preoccupied  with  chaotic  visions,  until, 


BEES   AND   POULTRY.  201 

finally,  a  country  gentleman  approached 
her,  and  began  to  discourse  upon  fowls. 

Poultry  exhibitions,  he  said,  never  sat- 
isfied him,  and  with  fancy  breeds  he  had 
no  patience;  the  common  he?i,  properly 
cultivated,  was  worth  them  all  put  to- 
gether. While  listening  politely  to  the 
quaint  speaker,  the  baroness  perfected 
in  her  mind  a  plan  which  involved  the 
education  of  hens,  and  promised  a  solu- 
tion of  her  difficulties. 

The  result  was  a  poultry  enterprise  of 
such  magnitude  as  to  be  quite  beyond 
the  reach  of  ordinary  aspirants;  but  it 
yielded  a  handsome  income  to  the  far- 
seeing  French  woman.  The  gradual  steps, 
however,  by  which  she  reached  such  a 
pinnacle  of  success  are  not  made  visible, 
which  is  a  serious  loss  to  the  reader  in 
quest  of  information ;  and  the  baroness 
in  this  narrative  passes  at  once  from  an 
impecunious  condition  to  the  ownership 


202  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

of  an  expensive  establishment.  No  one 
knows  whether  she  began  with  ten  fowls 
or  fifty,  nor  where  she  got  the  money  to 
begin  at  all ;  there  is  only  the  broadly- 
stated  fact  that  she  successfully  man- 
aged over  thirteen  hundred,  and  pro- 
vided them  with  palatial  quarters. 

The  building  that  accommodated  these 
fortunate  feathered  charges  is  represented 
as  having  first  and  second  stories  divided 
into  compartments.  On  the  ground-floor 
were  hatching-room,  kitchen,  grain-room, 
and  store-room  for  eggs — the  necessity 
for  a  kitchen  having  arisen  from  the  cus- 
tom of  cooking  much  of  the  food.  The 
second  story  had  a  wide  veranda,  or  gal- 
lery, attached,  with  a  railway  and  turn- 
tables at  the  corners.  This  was  a  great 
aid  to  the  work ;  and  every  morning  the 
four  upper  compartments  were  thorough- 
ly cleaned — the  nests  and  boxes  once  a 
week. 


BEES   AXD   POULTRY.  203 

This  wonderful  poultry  -  house  even 
had  Venetian  shutters  back  and  front, 
to  insure  perfect  ventilation — which, 
with  cleanliness,  is  the  best  protection 
against  vermin.  In  the  coldest  weather 
the  shutters  were  not  quite  closed,  as 
the  building  was  comfortably  warmed 
by  hot-air  pipes  from  the  furnace-range 
in  the  kitchen. 

Care  was  also  taken  to  give  the  fowls 
ample  space  for  exercise;  and  this  was 
secured  by  parks  or  yards  of  an  acre 
and  a  half,  extending  from  the  four  com- 
partments. These  were  planted  with  a 
constant  supply  of  green  food,  to  keep 
the  poultry  in  good  condition ;  and  the 
yards  were  separated  by  thick  hedges, 
which  extended  to  the  pillars  of  the  ve- 
randa. Xothing  that  would  add  to  the 
comfort  and  well-being  of  the  feathered 
inmates  seemed  to  have  been  forgotten ; 
and  a  large  shed  in  each  yard  was  al- 


204  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

ways  supplied  with  dry  sand,  that  the 
fowls  might  "powder  themselves"  even 
on  rainy  days. 

Masses  of  shrubbery  were  planted 
here  and  there  in  the  yards,  to  protect 
the  fowls  alike  from  the  rain  and  from 
the  heat  of  the  summer  sun ;  and  the 
fruit  of  the  gooseberry  and  currant 
bushes  adds  a  pleasant  variety  to  their 
diet.  Some  elder  -  bushes  originally 
planted  in  these  parks  were  obligingly 
pulled  up  and  replaced  by  raspberries, 
because  it  was  found  that  the  odor  of 
their  flowers  was  not  agreeable  to  the 
hens!  They  condescended  to  eat  the 
raspberries  as  fast  as  they  ripened. 

This  sounds  unmistakably  French ;  but 
it  had  much  to  do  with  the  good  condi- 
tion of  the  baroness's  poultry  that  their 
dwelling-place  was  entirely  free  from 
the  close,  disagreeable  odor  peculiar  to 
hen-houses.    There  came  instead,  through 


BEES  AND   POULTRY.  205 

the  Venetian  blinds,  the  perfume  of  roses 
and  honeysuckles,  with  which  the  veran- 
da-pillars were  covered.  "Why  not  flow- 
ers?" asked  the  gentle  trainer  of  hens; 
"  they  cost  nothing,  and  all  creatures 
must,  in  some  degree,  be  susceptible  to 
aesthetic  surroundings." 

A  special  park  was  provided  for  the 
little  chickens,  where  they  were  supplied 
with  everything  that  well  -  conducted 
young  fowls  are  supposed  to  want :  fresh 
grass,  plenty  of  fat  insects,  shade,  and 
quiet.  The  eggs  were  not  hatched  arti- 
ficially, nor  were  any  fancy  breeds  to  be 
found  among  these  nursery  inmates,  the 
education  of  the  common  barn-yard  fowl 
having  proved  entirely  successful. 

The  principal  object  of  this  immense 
establishment  was  the  exportation  of 
eggs;  and  these  were  produced  in  such 
quantities  as  to  yield  a  handsome  in- 
come above  all  expenses. 


206  MONEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

There  is  said  to  be  something  in  the 
nature  of  French  soil — the  presence  of 
silex  in  considerable  quantities — which 
makes  the  hens  such  wonderful  egg-pro- 
ducers; but  a  writer  who  has  studied 
the  subject  thinks  that  the  absence  of 
this  quality  might  be  made  up  by  arti- 
ficial means. 

A  man,  living  also  in  the  vicinity 
of  Paris,  was  represented  as  making 
$175,000  a  year  from  the  sale  of  eggs 
and  fowls.  His  poultry  was  not  treated 
like  that  of  the  baroness,  being  fed,  for 
economy's  sake,  on  horse-flesh,  and  lodged 
more  practically  and  less  picturesquely. 
All  the  old  hacks  of  the  city  were  pur- 
chased and  slaughtered  for  food ;  and, 
by  selling  the  skin,  hoofs,  etc.,  enough 
was  realized  to  pay  for  the  whole.  The 
flesh  w\as  cut  from  the  bones  and  con- 
verted by  a  machine  into  mince-meat ;  it 
was  then  slightly  seasoned  and  put  up 


BEES  AXD  POULTRY.  207 

iu  casks,  which  were  sent  by  railroad  to 
the  egg-farm — about  twenty-two  horses 
a  day  being  used  for  this  purpose.  The 
fowls  delighted  in  this  food,  and  would 
lay  an  egg  a-  day  in  all  seasons. 

The  sheds, -offices,  and  other  portions 
of  this  establishment  were  built  around 
a  quadrangle  enclosing  about  twenty 
acres,  which  formed  the  general  feeding- 
ground.  This  was  divided  by  fences  of 
open  paling,  only  a  limited  number  of 
fowls  being  allowed  to  herd  together, 
and  arranged  in  compartments  accord- 
ing to  age.  Four  years  was  the  limit 
of  existence. 

Before  marketing,  the  fowls  were  put 
into  the  fattening  coops  for  three  weeks, 
and  sent  alive  to  Paris.  A  hen  was  nev- 
er allowed  to  sit.  The  breeding- rooms 
were  warmed  by  steam  to  the  same  heat 
as  that  evolved  by  the  hen  while  sitting. 
"  A  series  of  shelves,  one  above  the  oth- 


208  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

er,  formed  the  nests,  while  blankets  were 
spread  over  the  eggs  to  exclude  any  ac- 
cidental light.  The  hatched  chicks  were 
removed  to  the  nurser}^  each  morning, 
and  fresh  eggs  laid  in  to  supply  the 
place  of  empty  shells.  A  constant  suc- 
cession of  chickens  is  thus  insured  ;  and, 
besides,  the  feathers  are  always  free  from 
vermin." 

These,  too,  were  the  old-fashioned  barn- 
yard fowl.  Their  flesh  is  far  more  deli- 
cate than  that  of  the  prize  varieties.  The 
inference  seems  plain  that  the  more  ani- 
mal food  given,  the  more  eggs,  as  the 
production  of  eggs  always  falls  off  at 
the  season  when  insects  disappear.  Half 
an  ounce  a  day  of  fresh  meat,  chopped  as 
for  sausages,  is  a  sufficient  allowance  for 
one  hen. 

No  one  was  ever  known  to  keep  fowls 
under  standingly  and  say  that  it  did  not 
pay;   and  some   enterprising  American 


BEES  AND   POULTRY.  209 

lady  might  do  equally  as  well  as  the 
French  baroness.  She  could  begin  with 
a  flock  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred; 
and,  as  the  profit  on  each  thoroughly 
cultivated  hen  often  reaches  the  sum 
of  $3  00  a  year,  an  investment  in  poul- 
try can  scarcely  fail  to  be  a  paying 
one. 

Fowls  are  not  so  easily  kept  as  bees, 
as  they  require  room  to  range  in,  and 
never  thrive  so  well  in  confined  quar- 
ters. A  person  of  experience  says :  "  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  one  thousand 
may  be  profitably  kept  under  one  roof, 
and  with  a  few  acres  of  forage-run,  by 
adhering  to  the  following  rules  : 

"1st.  Let  the  roosting-house  be  of  am- 
ple size,  giving  each  fowl  about  two  feet 
of  perch  room,  and  having  it  so  venti- 
lated in  winter  that  the  air  shall  be 
pure.  A  ventilator  in  the  roof  is  not 
sufficient ;  there  must  be  windows  to 
14 


210  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

open  (slide  down  from  the  top),  accord- 
ing to  the  state  of  the  weather. 

"  2d.  Ample  shed  -  room,  connecting 
with  the  roosting  -  house,  to  give  the 
fowls  a  chance  to  be  protected  from 
storms,  and  where  a  supply  of  water, 
gravel,  old  mortar,  pounded  charcoal, 
ground  oyster-shells,  etc.,  is  within  easy 
reach. 

"  3d.  The  business  to  be  fully  under- 
stood, and  the  fowls  kept  free  of  lice; 
feed  to  be  corn,  oats,  buckwheat,  and 
wheat- screenings,  with  boiled  potatoes 
and  meal  occasionally,  mixed  wTith  cay- 
enne pepper,  to  be  given  hot  in  winter. 
Of  course,  I  cannot  give  a  hundredth 
part  of  all  I  might  say  on  the  subject 
in  this  article,  but  I  will  give  general 
principles. 

"In  regard  to  raising  early  chickens 
and  later  fowls  for  market,  I  have  space 
to  say  but  little;  but  'there  is  money' 


BEES  AM)   POULTRY.  211 

in  that  branch  of  the  business,  and  a 
good  deal,  too,  if  it  be  rightly  managed. 
Early  chickens,  weighing  about  a  pound 
each,  will  command  $1  50  a  pair  in  New 
York  in  July ;  and  the  market  has 
never  been  glutted  with  such  young 
poultry." 

Pigeons  are  usually  associated  with 
half-grown  boys,  wrho  are  given  to  spas- 
modic experiments  with  them  of  a  com- 
mercial character,  which  never  appear  to 
result  in  much  ready  coin.  But  to  those 
who  understand  them  there  is  consid- 
erable profit  in  pigeons. 

They  are  not  at  all  difficult  to  under- 
stand, nor  are  their  wants  in  any  way 
complicated.  A  corner  of  a  barn -loft 
will  answer  for  lodgings;  and  in  sum- 
mer they  will  find  their  own  provisions. 
Almost  the  only  care  they  need  is  to 
clean  the  loft  out  twice  a  year.     A  fre- 


212  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 

quent  cause  of  failure  with  pigeons  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that,  instead  of  fit- 
ting up  a  small  loft  with  nests  inside, 
boxes  are  nailed  to  the  outside  of  the 
barn,  and  the  squabs  perish  from  being 
exposed  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather. 
In  winter  pigeons  will  feed  with  the 
poultry.  They  will  raise  on  an  average 
eight  or  nine  pairs  of  young  in  a  year, 
which  will  find  ready  sale  when  four 
weeks  old  at  fifty  cents  a  pair.  In  win- 
ter they  will  bring  seventy-five  cents. 
If  the  stock  consists  of  Dutchies,  or  com- 
mon runts,  at  a  cost  of  $2  50  a  pair, 
squabs  twice  the  size  of  common  ones 
can  be  raised,  and  these  will,  of  course, 
command  a  proportionately  higher  price. 
Birds  of  the  common  variety,  which  cost 
only  fifty  cents  a  pair,  will  pay  for  them- 
selves within  two  months. 

Turkeys,  too,  are   profitable    on    the 


BEES   AXD   POULTRY.  213 

same  conditions  that  are  necessary  in 
regard  to  hens — care  and  intelligence. 

A  flock  of  well-grown  turkeys,  accord- 
ing to  a  rural  paper,  make  such  an  agree- 
able addition  to  the  receipts  of  the  farm, 
and  they  are  often  raised  with  so  little 
trouble,  that  the  seeming  indifference  of 
so  many  farmers  with  reference  to  them 
is  something  to  be  wondered  at.  The 
rules  for  breeding  are  simple  and  easi- 
ly understood;  and  failures  are  due  to 
two  prominent  causes :  one,  the  wreather, 
which  in  some  seasons  puts  at  fault  the 
utmost  possible  care;  the  other,  negli- 
gence. 

"A  hot  and  dry  season  is  almost  an 
essential  for  success  with  turkeys.  This 
is  so  important  that  it  is  of  little  use  to 
be  in  haste  to  get  turkeys  hatched  early, 
as  with  chickens;  though  old  birds  are 
tough  enough,  young  ones  are  exceeding- 
ly tender.     If  brought  out  by  the  first 


214  MOXEY-MAKING   FOR   LADIES. 

of  June,  it  will  generally  be  early  enough. 
Even  if  they  live  through  such  chilly 
and  damp  weather  as  is  common  in  May, 
they  will  not  grow  much  until  hot  weath- 
er and  bugs  come  to  their  relief;  but  let 
them  hatch  out  in  June,  in  weather  which 
drives  the  breeder  to  the  shade,  and  lit- 
tle turkeys  just  enjoy  it;  they  will 
stretch  themselves  in  the  sun,  and  May 
off'  with  every  token  of  delight.  Damp, 
chilly  weather  is  their  ruin ;  rain,  abom- 
ination ;  morning  dew,  a  poison  sure  to 
blight  the  hopes  of  inexperienced  or 
careless  breeders.  Turkeys  must  be  al- 
lowed to  range  very  freely  to  insure  suc- 
cess, but  not  while  the  grass  is  wet ;  that 
is,  during  the  first  two  months  or  so  of 
their  lives.  After  that,  one  need  not  be 
quite  so  particular." 

These  little  turkeys  require  an  unlim- 
ited supply  of  varied,  fresh,  green  food, 
especially  lettuce,  dandelion  leaves,  dock, 


BEES   AND   POULTRY.  215 

young  nettles,  and  onion  tops ;  and  they 
must  be  fed  entirely  on  soft  food  for 
some  weeks,  gradually  introducing  grain 
in  small  portions  for  the  first  few  months. 

With  care,  a  large  number  of  turkeys 
may  be  profitably  kept  on  a  farm ;  and, 
during  the  winter  season,  there  is  always 
a  demand  for  them  in  the  market. 

Ducks  and  geese  are  also  desirable  as 
sources  of  profit,  where  there  is  abundant 
room  ;  and  on  a  large,  well-watered  farm 
they  will  thrive  to  the  best  advantage. 


21(3  MONEY-MAKING  FOR  LADIES. 


Chapter  XIII. 

A    FEW    LAST    WORDS. 

The  Value  of  Small  Things. — Suggestions  in  News- 
paper Paragraphs. — A  Novel  Pattern  for  an  Auger. 
— Oyster  and  Snail  Shells.  —  Improved  Milk  and 
Butter. — Profit  in  Tea-packing. — A  Little  Tea  Store. 
— Cultivation  of  Mushrooms. — A  Lady's  Invention. 
— A  Need  to  be  Supplied. — Knowing  What  to  Do. 
— Wasted  Energy. 

Among  the  numerous  suggestions  for 
money-making  contained  in  these  pages, 
many  out-of-the-way  industries  and  in- 
ventions have  been  left  unnoticed.  A 
very  little  thing  will  sometimes  lead  to 
wealth,  while  large  enterprises  foil ;  and 
observation  and  ingenuity  are  often  of 
more  value  than  the  most  plodding  in- 
dustry. 

Paragraphs   in  the   daily  papers  are 


A  FEW   LAST   WORDS.  217 

very  suggestive,  and  two  or  three  clip- 
ped at  random  will  show  what  may  be 
done  in  out-of-the-way  fields. 

Ransom  Cook,  of  Saratoga  Springs, 
who  recently  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  got  his  plan  for  making  an  auger 
that  would  bore  at  an  angle  with  the 
grain  (without  starting  with  a  gouge) 
by  examining  the  lips  of  the  worm  com- 
monly known  as  the  "  wood  borer  "  with 
a  microscope;  and  from  this  he  made 
his  model,  which  proved  a  perfect  suc- 
cess.  Among  the  minor  industries  of 

Paris  is  the  utilization  of  oyster  and 
snail  shells.  Keepers  of  eating-saloons 
are  required  by  law  to  put  these  shells 
in  boxes  by  themselves,  ready  to  be  car- 
ried away  by  a  person  who  has  made  a 
contract  with  the  city  for  them.  The 
oyster  -  shell  is  used  often  instead  of 
mother-of-pearl  in  the  manufacture  of 
various  fancy  goods. 


218  MONEY-MAKIXG   FOR   LADIES. 

The  Toledo  Blade  says  there  is  a 
speedy  fortune  in  store  for  some  man 
who  will  open  a  shop  in  Toledo  devoted 
to  the  specialty  of  pure  milk  and  high- 
grade  butter — kept  conscientiously  up 
to  the  standard,  and  offered  to  the  pub- 
lic at  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  per  cent. 

above    the    market    rates. A    good 

business  may  be  done  by  purchasing 
certain  articles  in  their  original  pack- 
ages, and  putting  them  up  in  a  more  de- 
sirable form.  A  firm  in  Philadelphia 
has  made  a  fortune  by  repacking  teas 
for   miners'   use,  and  shipping  them  to 

California   and   Australia. The   tea 

business  is  very  profitable;  and  a  taste- 
ful little  store,  with  a  few  cheap  Chinese 
oddities  in  addition  to  the  tea,  could  be 
managed  by  proxy,  like  the  lunch-room, 
and  made  to  yield  a  very  respectable  in- 
come.— —Raising  mushrooms  is  a  regu- 
lar occupation  in  France,  and  a  French- 


A  FEW  LAST   WORDS.  219 

man  is  now  said  to  be  in  treaty  for  the 
use  of  the  Mammoth  Cave,  Kentucky, 
for  this  purpose.  It  is  an  industry  that 
may  be  carried  on  in  almost  any  cellar, 
and  will  find  a  market  in  every  large, 
city. A  lady  who  invented  some  at- 
tachment to  a  sewing-machine  made  her 
fortune  by  it ;  and  there  is  room  for  oth- 
er  attachments  and  improvements,  and 

other    fortunes. If    some    ingenious 

woman  will  invent  a  button  that  will 
stay  on  boots,  or  something  more  com- 
fortable and  lasting  than  the  fasteners 
now  in  use,  she  will  reap  a  large  pecun- 
iary harvest. 

One  of  the  great  arts  of  money-mak- 
ing consists  in  the  gift  of  knowing  just 
what  to  do,  according  to  one's  powers 
and  circumstances ;  and  we  cannot  better 
take  leave  of  our  subject  than  by  quot- 
ing some  excellent  thoughts  on  wasted 
energy  from  the  columns  of  a  newspaper : 


220  MONEY-MAKING   FOR  LADIES. 

"Nobody  can  critically  observe  the  structure  of 
American  social  or  domestic  life  without  being  struck 
by  the  immense  amount  of  energy  which  is  wasted  in 
the  woman's  half  of  it. 

"  In  any  case  the  American  man  finds  ample  outlet 
for  his  energies.  With  the  average  woman  it  is  dif- 
ferent. She,  too,  recognizes  the  value  of  money :  if 
poor,  she  wants  to  make  it,  and  her  anxiety  to  do  this 
battles  perpetually  with  her  desire  to  do  nothing  which 
is  strong-minded  and  unlady-like.  How  many  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  women  in  inland  towns  and 
country  places,  this  August,  are  painting  china,  em- 
broidering towels  with  hideous  sunflowers,  sketch- 
ing that  most  ubiquitous  of  bores,  the  limp,  mediaeval 
woman  in  her  poke  bonnet,  or  sending  off  voluminous 
manuscripts,  all  in  the  hope  of  earning  money  secretly ! 
She  does  not  earn  it.  Her  energy  is  wasted  because 
she  does  not  know  how  to  bring  it  to  bear.  She  is 
an  amateur  dabbler  in  half  a  dozen  different  arts,  in- 
stead of  a  painstaking,  conscientious  worker  in  one 
little,  unpretentious  craft.  Conscientious  work  in  one 
direction  will  always  bring  wages  in  the  end.  Iu 
provincial  communities,  too,  custom  and  prejudice  are 
strongly  opposed  to  the  earning  of  money  by  women 
who  rank  as  "ladies,"  except  as  artists  and  authors. 
Her  energy  is  new  wine  in  old  bottles.  The  bottles 
do  not  break,  but  the  wine  is  apt  to  turn  sour  and 
musty. 

"  The  mistake  made  by  all  these  women  whose  en- 


A  FEW   LAST   WOKDS.  221 

ergy  is  running  to  waste  is,  that  their  aims  are  too 
wide  and  too  vague.  A  living  is  to  be  earned,  not  by 
general  amateur,  ladylike  "pottering,"  as  Carlyle  grim- 
ly calls  it,  but  by  a  definite  trade  or  craft,  followed 
accurately  and  openly.  The  power  of  an  unmarried 
woman  is  in  danger  of  growing  diseased  from  want  of 
outside  objects ;  the  more  reason,  therefore,  she  should 
turn  it  away  from  herself.  The  poor  she  has  always 
with  her;  and  by  the  poor  is  not  meant  only  the  pen- 
niless, but  the  crippled,  blind,  and  dumb  of  soul.  A 
sufficient  aim  for  such  a  one,  too,  is  to  fill  the  place 
and  fulfil  the  duties  of  a  gentlewoman  in  a  mixed 
community,  such  as  that  of  our  American  towns.  But 
few  of  our  American  women  realize  that  simple  duty, 
and  we  see  the  results  in  the  communities." 


INTERESTING  BOOKS  FOR  WOMEN. 


BEAUTY  IN  DRESS.    By  Miss  Oakey.     16rao,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

BEAUTY  IN  THE  HOUSEHOLD.  By  the  Author  of  "Beauty  in 
Dress."    Illustrated.    16mo,  Cloth.    (In  Press.) 

THE  BAZAR  BOOK  OF  THE  HOUSEHOLD.  Marriage,  Estab- 
lishment, Servants,  Housekeeping,  Children,  Home  Life,  Com- 
pany.   16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  BAZAR  BOOK  OF  DECORUM.  The  Care  of  the  Person, 
Manners,  Etiquette,  and  Ceremonials.    16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

THE  BAZAR  BOOK  OF  HEALTH.  The  Dwelling,  the  Nursery, 
the  Bedroom,  the  Dining -Room,  the  Parlor,  the  Library,  the 
Kitchen,  the  Sick-Room.     16mo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

BAZAR  COOKING  RECEIPTS.  Cooking  Receipts  from  Harper's 
Bazar.    32mo,  Paper,  25  cents. 

PRACTICAL  COOKING  AND  DLNNER  GIVING.  A  Treatise 
containing  Practical  Instructions  in  Cooking ;  in  the  Combina- 
tion and  Serving  of  Dishes ;  and  in  the  Fashionable  Modes  of 
Entertaining  at  Breakfast,  Lunch,  and  Dinner.  By  Mrs.  Maey 
F.  Hendeesox.    Illustrated.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

SOCIAL  ETIQUETTE  AND  HOME  CULTURE.  The  Glass  of 
Fashion  :  A  Universal  Hand-Book  of  Social  Etiquette  and  Home 
Culture  for  Ladies  and  Gentlemen.  With  Copious  and  Practi- 
cal Hints  upon  the  Manners  and  Ceremonies  of  Every  Relation 
in  Life,  at  Home,  in  Society,  and  at  Court.    4to,  Paper,  20  cents. 

YOUTH'S  HEALTH  BOOK.     32mo,  Paper,  25  cents. 

THE  CARE  OF  PROPERTY.  Hints  to  Women  on  the  Care  of 
Property.     By  Alfred  Walkee.    32mo,  Paper,  20  cents. 

THE  ART  OF  BEAUTY.  By  Mrs.  H.  R.  Haweis.  With  numerous 
Illustrations  by  the  Author.  Square  16mo,  Cloth,  Ornamental 
Cover,  $1  T5. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

^W  Sent  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  Slates,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS 

llllllllllllllflll 


DDD2bSti3ti41